In A Demon's Eye
by Lunar the Dragon
Summary: Shadows are cast over the lives of both the demon's world and theirs. When a new cadet appears- if he's truly a cadet- named Cloud Strife, what does it mean when creatures and mystery appear?
1. Prologue

Summary: There's a new cadet in the SOLDIER program named Cloud Strife. He, actually, seems quite weak, but when he starts acting quite weird, people get suspicious. Is there something this teen is hiding?

Pairings: No yaoi until book two, unknown other pairings...

Warnings: cussing eventually, don't like don't read, read and don't like don't review! Flames will be ignored or shot down.

Me no own Final Fantasy 7. Square Enix does!!!

Prologue:

The sun was blotted out by the dark clouds. Rain was sure to come. Magnorak was sure of that as he looked out the palace window. His fox face was blank of emotion, seeing as his mind was spinning with them. He didn't know how to be acting. Sad, excited, mad, disappointed? He didn't know.

"So, you will be going undercover as a SOLDIER in training to learn more of the subject," the feminine voice behind Magnorak went over their strategy.

He, the high king of the western part of his planet, one of the most powerful demons that ever lived, and a descendant of the long since deceased Kyuubi no Kitsune, was to go to the parallel dimension to his world to investigate a disturbance. Normally, he would send a warrior or spy of his own to do this work, but this was something personal of his to be done. He wanted to take care of Hojo himself.

Hojo, a deadly scientist, most likely insane, had found out about his people. The demons.

Demons, the inhabitants of this planet and this dimension, had traveled between the two worlds for centuries. They lived in the world of humans without being noticed seeing as they took on disguises using their special abilities.

Hojo had learned about the demons living in his world and had been capturing, experimenting, and torturing demons. And, unfortunately, they were mainly Western demons, Magnorak's people.

And Magnorak wanted justice.

Magnorak, being a fox demon with nine tails like his ancestor, was a master of trickery and acting. He was planning on going to that world and staying there for a while undercover and find proof of Hojo torturing his people. Once he had solid proof he would be able to present it to the Grand Council of his whole planet and receive clearance to exterminate the crazy scientist.

But, Magnorak could not tell his people he was leaving them for who knows how long. Riots would be ensured after the announcement and decrees that he must stay would be ordered and sent in. He wouldn't be able to leave if he announced such news.

Magnorak looked back at his best friends; Kiva-the phoenix, Zalu-Kiva's twin sister and the blue phoenix, and Zeek-the shadow wolf. Zeek and Kiva both sat in their human forms on the sofa against the left wall and listened to Zalu, also in her human form, read over the plans.

They were the only ones that knew he was leaving and were put in charge of running the nation in his absence. They would announce after Magnorak had left that he had gone on a personal and very important mission and that he had put them in charge.

"You will then proceed to look into the subject," Zalu read off the file. She refused to call Hojo by his name, saying that evil beasts didn't deserve names.

"Zalu, I think he knows what to do," Kiva laughed, his ever present smile stretching across his tan face, his long, red hair dancing with his laughter. His sister swung towards him, her medium length, blue hair spinning with her, and her green eyes blazing.

"Do not interrupt! I am going to read off the plans whether you like it or not!" Zalu wagged her own, tan finger in Kiva's face disapprovingly.

Kiva's green eyes widened slightly and he waved his hands protectively in front of his chest.

"WOAH! WOAH!" Kiva tried to calm his sister down, but she had the worst temper any of them had ever seen. She got angry at the littlest of things, and it drove the three boys present in the room crazy.

Zeek just sat and watched the siblings bicker with observant, deep, blue eyes. His pale face never showing any emotion at all.

"Cut it out, the two of you!" Magnorak boomed angrily at his two friends. They fell silent and looked over at their king, their identical green eyes both showing an apologetic glow. Magnorak turned to Zalu and nodded to her. "Please continue," he said calmly then turned and glared at Kiva, "and don't interrupt!" Kiva gulped and nodded briskly. Zeek sighed and ran a hand through his short, pitch black hair.

"Well, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted!" Zalu gave a quick glare at Kiva who grinned sheepishly. "You are to join the SOLDIER program and train to become a SOLDIER. While you are there, you should have a good amount of access to the subject and even more access when you become a 3rd class. You will aim to get proof of the subject's crimes against demons and bring it back to the Grand Council. Simple, is it not?"

Magnorak looked over at Zalu, then Kiva, then Zeek, and finally turned to look out the large window.

"It's easier said then done, sis!" Kiva stated simply. Everyone knew that little fact was true. This was not simple in any sense of the word.

"What is his persona?" Zeek questioned blankly, his voice not showing any emotion. It never did. Magnorak wasn't surprised, considering what he had been through.

"Persona?" Zalu replied blankly, blinking a few times. Magnorak squeezed the bridge of his long muzzle with two long claws in agitation.

"Yes, Zalutria, persona. It means personality and history," Magnorak explained, his voice thick with irritation. He was surprised, actually, that they hadn't really identified what his undercover self would act like or what his history was.

"Well, uh," Zalu flipped through the folder in her hands in search of the answer. Zeek and Kiva both watched her search while their king stared out the window as the sky darkened even further.

"EURICHA!" Zalu proclaimed, finally finding what she had been looking for. Magnorak spared her a quick glance out of the corner of his thin, blue eyes, and then turned back to the window. "It seems we decided you would be a shy, withdrawn, and quiet teen boy. Not very good self esteem," Zalu looked over at her king, who didn't even make a move to look back at her. "You look up to the SOLDIER's general like most cadets do, and you want to be just like him." Magnorak scoffed at this. He couldn't care less about their oh so amazing General. He was exceptionally powerful, he wouldn't deny that, but he just didn't see what was so great about him or why everyone loved him so much.

"What about history? I get the gist of my personality," the large, golden fox questioned, turning fully towards his friends.

"Well, uh, it seems you are from a small town called Nibelheim," Zalu squinted at the name of the city, wondering if she had gotten the spelling or pronunciation right, but shrugged it off.

"Why there? Isn't that, like, a really small place to come from?" Kiva questioned, not really seeming to care about it. Zalu was about to retort to him, but Zeek beat her to it.

"It's small and withdrawn and seems like the place where someone with this personality would come from. Besides, a good amount of cadets come from this place," Zeek said in his monotone voice.

Magnorak nodded in agreement. "I find it to be a fine place for my being to have come from," he stated calmly.

Zalu also nodded. "Yes, and we have a couple warriors stationed there that we can inform of your mission and can be assigned as friends of your character," she nodded again as if telling herself it was surely a great idea. Magnorak hesitated a moment and thought over the idea.

"Which warriors?" he asked slowly, not knowing which they should tell and which not to. Some of his warriors he didn't think would be best to inform of his mission. He trusted all of his people, of course, but some he thought might not be able to handle certain news.

"Erm," Zalu thought over the files in her head. She counted on her fingers then answered, "Mana, Dradle, Lucia, Tifa, and Nachi." Magnorak arched a furry eyebrow at her answer.

"Only five?" the king questioned and Zalu nodded. She had a photographic memory, which came in handy many times.

Magnorak sighed, sat down behind his large, wooden desk and began to look over the list.

Mana the vampire. He was a trustworthy man, but he was always drinking and yelling out nonsense. That nonsense, one night, might just be the king's mission. Maybe he wasn't really the best choice.

Dradle the chimera. He was a bit crafty, but totally devoted to his nation. He could use his crafty talents to keep the mission a secret and make everyone believe that he really was part of Magnorak's past. He would probably be a good choice to ask for his assistance.

Lucia the cobra hybrid. She was a very seductive woman, living up to her snake demon heritage, and she was great at telling a lie. She wasn't really the best actress, though. Maybe if she were given a past act that resembled her true self and true past they could work with her.

Tifa the werewolf. She was a kind being, very trustworthy, and probably the best choice out of the five. She was definitely one to tell the mission to.

Nachi the mutant. He was known as the village idiot. He was actually a genius with an I.Q. higher then most professional scientist, but he was pretty crazy. He might be able to be told the mission and if he goes and yaps about it, no one would believe him.

Magnorak nodded at his decision and turned to Kiva.

"Dradle, Lucia, Tifa, and Nachi are to know of the mission. You make up their connections to my fake persona, but make sure they fit in with their current personas and with their personalities. Then, send out the information to them via letter," Kiva nodded at his king's demand and ran out the door with a mock salute.

"There is one more thing," Zalu pulled her king's attention back to her as she skimmed her fingers over the file. "It says here you are to fail your first attempt at becoming a SOLDIER to keep up with your personality," Zalu looked up at her king apologetically.

"Why doesn't he just act like he just barely makes it into SOLDIER on the first test? It would be a lot better," Zeek recommended but Magnorak flicked one of his long tails at him for him to be silent.

"I find that to be fine," the fox demon said slowly, not really sure if he himself really was fine about it. If he became a SOLDIER then he would have more access to Hojo and the sooner he became a SOLDIER then the sooner he could find proof.

Just then, a flash of lightning lit up the window behind the fox king, lighting the room with a yellow glow and long shadows. A boom of thunder shook the large palace the three friends sat in and all the lights shot off. Magnorak looked behind him, out the window, to see rain pouring down from the sky and hammering against his window. The nation's capital below him bustled with demons as they either ran to get out of the rain or hurried to get in it.

An eerie blue light lit the room and the king turned back to his friends to see Zalu lighting a candle with her blue flames and setting it on her leader's desk.

"Creepy," Zeek said flatly, not sounding at all unnerved. Actually, he liked it when it was dark, scary, or creepy.

"Anyway, I found that if you are a SOLDIER, you do have more access into the subject's lab, but you will not have as much time to do it," Zalu said calmly, her face lit with the blue light.

Magnorak nodded slowly. That made sense in a way. And, if he was just a simple cadet when he went to the lab, he wouldn't seem as suspicious. But, if he were to ask Hojo any questions that showed a much more developed mind, then he would have to have a back up story for his knowledge. Him being a big book worm would probably be his best bet, and so he would need to purchase a good amount of books to back up the theory.

"What's my persona's name?" Magnorak question blankly as yet another flash of lightning and quake of thunder echoed in his ears.

"We haven't decided. You get to choose it," Zalu stated, pulling out a black pen from her jean pocket. She dabbed her tongue against the tip of the pen, put the point against the file in her grip, and then looked up at her king expectantly.

Magnorak looked down at his desk for a moment, not sure how to reply. He turned to look out his window yet again and stared out at the city he lived in.

He lived in the capital city called Strife.

Magnorak stared at his city for a few seconds longer then looked up at the darkness above the city that was pelting the buildings with water.

"My name will be Cloud Strife."


	2. Chapter 1: Adjustments

Chapter one:

He was going to kill her.

He was going to scream bloody murder, then CAUSE a bloody murder, then make it look like it was an accident!

He was going to break every breakable object in the room.

Cloud glared at the mirror.

At this moment, if you couldn't tell, he was furious with a certain blue phoenix.

The memory was still fresh in his mind.

_~Flashback~_

_Zalu grinned happily at Magnorak's human form. He was tall, handsome, maybe in his mid-twenties, his blonde hair defied gravity, and his deep blue eyes you could get drunk on._

"_Your highness," Zalu started, but her king glared at her, "Er, sorry, I mean Cloud." Cloud smiled and nodded at her for her to continue. "No offense, but you are hot!" Zalu drooled happily over the site. Cloud and Kiva exchanged a glance and shrugged. Cloud may be a great genius and brilliant leader, but a woman was one subject he could never get._

"_Thank you, Zalutria, I think," Cloud blinked a few times in confusion, but shook it off._

"_Why do you always call me Zalutria? Call me Zalu!" Zalu whined, hating being called her full name. Every now and again, Cloud would call her by her preferred nickname, but most of the time he called her Zalutria._

"_It's your name! I'm just used to it as you wanted to be called it when we were children," Cloud said simply. He, Kiva, and Zalu had been friends since childhood. Zeek came into the picture when they joined the army._

"_Yes, well, shouldn't we be focusing on the problem at hand?" Zeek stated monotonously, motioning at Cloud's human self. Cloud looked down at himself in confusion. Not even he knew what this problem could be. He knew he had to get more poor looking clothes seeing as these were quite fancy. He actually rarely wore fancy clothes, not liking to look better then anyone, but he was just with friends then and these were just so comfy._

_Cloud's three friends sighed. "Your age," Kiva replied simply, smirking slightly at Cloud's ignorance._

_Cloud smacked his forehead. Of course! He was supposed to be a teen boy, not an adult._

"_I am WAAAAAAAAY ahead of you!" Zalu exclaimed happily, holding up what looked like a medallion. Everyone looked at her confusedly. Zalu smiled even bigger, happy that she got to explain some more._

"_As we all know, Cloud could easily turn into a teen at anytime, but since it is not his true human form and is more of a spell then anything, it has a time limit!" Zalu began, twirling the golden trinket on her finger._

"_No, duh!" Kiva sighed only to have Zalu punch the back of his head. A typical day in the life of the phoenix twins…_

"_As I was saying!" Zalu spoke loudly and with authority. Cloud wasn't really surprised. She had wanted to become the first Queen of this nation. She had trained herself to speak loudly and clearly to all people and to show no fear. She was unfortunately disapproved of the Grand Council when she requested she become the next Leader of the nation. "They were a bunch of old sexists!" She had stated when she came storming back into the army barracks two days later. Actually, Cloud never asked to be the king. He was just so promising, is what they told him. And he nearly said no to their proposal, feeling he might hurt his female friend._

_But, Zalu told him to not let this chance slip by. She was happy that her friend was to be the king, and to show his gratitude to the blue phoenix, he appointed her his advisor, a very high position._

"_This medallion, when worn, will allow you to stay in teen form for DAYS! You can also turn into your half demon form and adult form while wearing this, but not full demon form!" Cloud nodded at the explanation. The magical object was to keep him in some human form, if only half, so it would probably not allow him to turn full demon, seeing as there was no human in that form at all._

"_I cannot wait to see what he looks like!" Zalu suddenly squealed loudly, sending the three boys present to fall out of their seats in surprise._

"_Not so loud! We don't want anyone to hear!" Zeek warned the female angrily, a rare emotion being shown._

_Zalu turned to her friends and bowed apologetically. "Sorry guys," she murmured, but her apology was short lived as she was soon jumping off the walls with excitement. She was much too excited of what Cloud looked like as a teen, the three boys decided._

"_So, do you have any pics of your human form as a teen? Maybe that will calm crazy bird over here down!" Kiva questioned his king, motioning towards his sister who was now glaring at him with her hands on her hips._

"_I am not crazy! Take that back!" Zalu exclaimed and leapt at her brother. The two siblings wrestled on the floor, yelling and screaming at each other. Zeek and Cloud exchanged a quick look before splitting the two warriors apart._

"_ENOUGH!" Cloud's voice thundered across the room, actually making a few vases and shelves quake. Zalu and Kiva went stiff with fear and didn't dare look at their king's face. Instead they bowed their heads and said their sorry's._

"_And to answer your question, Kiva," both Zalu and Kiva's heads snapped up to look at the blonde, "no, I don't have any photos. I didn't know how to turn into a human when I was that young." The two siblings sighed sadly. They had both really wanted to see him. Zalu looked at the medallion still in her grip. Oh yeah, they still could._

"_One more thing before you put on the necklace!" Zalu said, handing Cloud his new device._

_Cloud arched a delicate eyebrow at the woman and glanced at the golden medallion a few times. "Well?" he asked after a few seconds of waiting._

"_Well," Zalu pulled out her clipboard that she always had with her, "by my calculations, every night there is a half moon you will have to turn into your half demon form so that the medallion can recharge." Cloud stared at her for a while, a blank expression on his face._

_After a few seconds he finally replied with a, "You're kidding, right?" Zalu shook her head, making what Cloud heard true. Shit, this was bad._

"_It may be a bit difficult to hide, but since it is during the night and you should have your own room when you are a cadet, it should be a lot easier then if you had to go full demon." Cloud looked over at Zalu with a look that seemed to be a mix of anger, annoyance, and displeasure._

"_And, what if I am on an over night mission when there is a half moon?" Cloud glared the woman down, his eyes like icicles. This was probably the worst thing to happen for the mission. It was the down-bringer, as Kiva called. The part of the mission that didn't go as you planned._

_Zalu stammered over words for a few seconds, flipping through the papers on her clipboard just to have something to do while she thought. Her face was nearly glowing red with embarrassment at her mistake._

"_You'd have to turn back no matter what kind of medallion you use," Zeek helped the blue phoenix out. "Besides, if you know you'll be out on a mission over night on the night of the half moon, then just turn to your half demon form the night before the mission. That way it will just charge up then instead."_

_Cloud looked over at Zeek for a second, wondering if that plan might work, but the idea was sent flying into the trash when Zalu spoke again._

"_I am sorry, but it can only recharge on the night of the half-moon." Cloud sighed in defeat. He would just have to find a way to get around this dilemma. He finally nodded and slipped the medallion over his head._

_The change was obvious to the king. He could feel his body changing as soon as the golden necklace was around his neck. He shut his eyes as the transformation took place as it hurt his eyes slightly from the light that suddenly surrounded him._

_He heard bones creak, felt muscles adjust, and could tell he was shrinking._

_When he finally felt everything end, he opened his eyes slowly. He had a moment of whip lash as he realized he was now a bit shorter then the two other men in the room and just barely taller then the woman. He looked down at himself and saw he now wore what looked like a fighting suit. Baggy, camouflage pants with pockets all over the legs. Combat boots were snuggly put over his smaller feet and the bottoms of his jeans were tucked into the boots. His shirt was a long sleeved black turtleneck and a green vest was slung over that, unzipped, and sleeveless._

_Cloud looked at the clothes for a second then turned to his friends, who were, of course, staring at him. "When did I get new clothes?" their king questioned them. He noticed, with great exasperation, that his voice was much higher then it used to be and seemed very much younger. 'Figures,' the king thought. _

_Zeek and Kiva shrugged, so they all turned to the person in the room that seemed to know everything._

_Zalu just stood there, staring at the fourteen-year-old Cloud. Kiva waved his hand in her face, but she only twitched in response. Cloud cleared his throat, hoping she would answer. She did this time, but with a reaction no one expected._

"_OH MY GOSH!!! YOU ARE SO CUTE!!!" she squealed, sending Kiva onto his butt in surprise as she rammed through and tackled her poor king._

"_HOLY SHIT!!!" Cloud screamed as he hit the ground with the blue haired woman squeezing his neck. "GET OFF!!!!" he shoved the female off him with more force then he had wanted. But, she was off him now, and he didn't care how powerful he had shoved her._

_Zalu shook her head to clear it and looked around the room as if she didn't know where she was. She looked over at her king, who was glaring at her._

"_Did I hug you?" realization hit the blue phoenix, and her answer from the blonde teen was a curt nod._

"_More like tackled actually," Zeek muttered blankly. Zalu's face burned red with a blush and she looked down at the ground so her bangs covered her eyes. The three men believed she mumbled a quick "sorry", but she was too quiet to tell._

_Cloud sighed at the craziness of his colleagues and just turned towards the bathroom door. He muttered something along the lines of "I gotta see this for myself", but was rudely interrupted when Zalu and Kiva swiftly grabbed both his arms._

"_We do not have time for that!" Zalu contradicted her king's actions as she and her brother dragged Cloud towards the window._

"_You need to go now!" Kiva followed up his sister's statement. He banged open the large windows of the blonde demon king's office. "You'll have to go this way, to have less of a chance of being spotted!" the red head explained cheerfully. Too cheerfully, if you asked Cloud._

_Zeek was the next to talk as he walked over to Cloud when the two twins had finally released him. "We've already filed out your entry to SOLDIER and informed the demon warriors in Nibelheim of your arrival and of their new mission," the black haired man explained, his voice holding his ever-present monotone._

_A medium sized stack of papers was suddenly shoved into the blonde's hands with a few folders at the top. Cloud looked at the pile with distaste then back up at Zeek. "Just hand those into the receptionist when you get to the ShinRa building! They'll give you a few pages to fill out then tell you were to go next!" Zeek's icicle blue eyes never left Cloud's deep blue ones._

"_That's easy enough," Cloud grumbled sarcastically, but sighed in defeat. No stepping out of it now!_

"_Do not forget your persona!" Zalu chirped, happy that she knew of a new word. Cloud just nodded at her and let one of his rare smiles glow across his face._

"_Hey, I'm the king! I got this!" Cloud replied calmly as his smile slowly slipped. He turned towards the open window and swiftly leaped out of the building._

_Wind whispered past his ears, and Cloud imagined the air was wishing him good luck. And he wanted to stay like that. Free falling forever. But, the feeling was gone instantly as the roofs of buildings grew closer._

_The blonde closed his eyes and three sets of pure white wings with golden primary feathers erupted from his back. The king felt himself be pulled upward as he pumped his wings against the air and flew towards the forest in the distance to where he would teleport to his mission's world._

_~End Flashback~_

And so, here Cloud was, finally in his new room, staring at the mirror hanging on the wall. This was his first look at his teen self and he wasn't happy.

This was not the face of a king. It looked far too young and inexperienced. His cheeks still held a small amount of baby fat, his muscles were small, and his eyes were round and gleamed with ignorance.

Cloud sighed in defeat. "At least it fits my persona," he mumbled angrily, still glaring at the mirror. At least when he wanted to, his eyes could look a lot more mature and deadly. But it didn't fit with the face. "This sucks," was the best way to wrap it up in the blonde's mind.

No turning back now. If only he had seen what he looked like before he left. He could of made some quick adjustments. Though, he didn't really know what those adjustments would be, but he would of thought something out!

Cloud flopped onto the hard and stiff bed he had and stared at the ceiling. It was nice, and good news, that cadets got single rooms all to themselves. He could hide his little secret a bit better. There was even a small bathroom just connected to the side of the small room. That way he could bathe his six wings and nine tails if he pleased without anyone ever knowing about them.

Really, the only thing bad about the room was its quality. The bed was stiff and lumpy. The one window was very small and very dirty. The bathroom was covered in mold. The room was covered in dust. And Cloud was pretty sure, with his heightened hearing, her heard mice in the walls.

But, Cloud could clean all the dirty places. He had slept on much worse then a bad bed. And the mice could make a nice snack one day.

This would be fine!

Or so he thought.

"I just have to work all this out one step at a time," Cloud said to himself. He had started talking to himself as soon as he walked into the room. Though he normally had a good amount of work to do (piles of paper work, training new recruits, training warriors, and much more) he normally had Zeek, Zalu, or Kiva with him to talk to. His life wasn't really quiet, to say the least, unless it had to be or he was in a quiet mood.

Cloud looked over at the bedside table that looked like it was about to fall to pieces at any moment. He had placed a photo album there that looked surprisingly like a small storybook. Cloud lifted up the album and opened it to a random page. He looked at the first picture he found.

It showed him in his half demon form, his six wings pulled into his body so only his nine, golden tails, long fox ears, fangs, and slitted blue eyes showed. He was on a beach, and he seemed like he was in his teen ages. Zalu was standing next to him, her arm around his shoulder, and blue wings wrapped against her back. Next to her was her brother Kiva, making bunny ears on his sister, and his red wings spread out happily and his red-feathered tail fanned out. They were all smiling happily at the camera, all in swimsuits.

That was when Cloud was still a trainee and he and the phoenix twins had just joined to become warriors. They had been given a vacation and had gone to the beach for fun in the sun. They hadn't even met Zeek yet.

Cloud looked at the smaller picture that was taped to the one that he was at the beach.

It was of Zeek in full human form, a book in his grasp. He was glaring at the camera over the top of his reading glasses and shoving his hand in the camera's way. But, his attempt to get away didn't work.

Cloud sighed and put the photo book into the drawer that was connected to the small table. "I miss em all ready," he mumbled and stood up. He went over to the small bathroom and brushed his teeth. He slipped on some baggy, black pants and a soft navy T-shirt.

He left the bathroom and laid onto his new bed. The bed squeaked in protest, but finally allowed silence.

"This is going to be a long mission," Cloud grumbled as he slipped into dream land.


	3. Chapter 2: Crazy Lieutenants

Chapter two:

Cloud sighed as he stepped into the training room. It was the day after he had come into this world and he was about to start his first SOLDIER training session. He was pretty sure they were planning on training him just simply on fitness today, but he wasn't entirely sure.

As he entered the grounds, he noticed with approval that they were very well kept. He would at least hope that the training area for the cadets would be well financed seeing as the rooms were not. The ground was covered in brownish-orange clay and running courses were set up all around. A large number of cadets were present in the room, but they were scattered into smaller groups and were talking amongst themselves.

Cloud decided not to join any of the groups, thinking it might go well with his shy and withdrawn persona, and busied himself in stretching. He made sure the stretches were simple and common as to not make it look suspicious. He really thought no one would really notice how he was stretching, but it was good to be careful.

"Hey! You! Kid!" a brunette and rough looking boy called. Cloud ignored him, thinking he was talking to someone else, but was sadly mistaken as a foot jabbed him in his ribs. He looked up at the brunette with a questioning look and made no move to stand up from his stretch.

"Yes? You need something?" Cloud asked politely, his eyes innocent and honest. But, on the inside, he knew his real self would be glaring at the boy with anger at his disrespect. Though the boy wouldn't know who he was, Cloud knew that he was showing a very low conduct towards his fellow cadet.

"Yeah! Why ain't cha in a uniform?" the rough looking boy questioned. The question had a snide kind of hint to it, and the new undercover cadet knew that this boy didn't care at all about what he was wearing.

"I just joined. I'm getting it later," Cloud spoke truthfully, acting like he was answering any everyday question and ignoring the rude side to it.

And the answer was the truth. He was going to be getting his cadet uniform later that day seeing as they were low on the clothing. It was kind of pathetic, Cloud couldn't help but think. They had too many cadets that wanted to become a SOLDIER and not enough SOLDIERs at hand. The cadets weren't powerful enough to make it. And, unfortunately, Cloud had to act as one of those flunkies.

"OH! So, you're a newbie, huh?" the rough looking boy smirked evilly as Cloud finally stood up. Cloud was starting to get a knot in his stomach. "The name's Brian!" the brunette, now known as Brian, stretched out his hand. Cloud took it and shook it. Cloud noted with displeasure that the hand was slimy, greasy, and dirty with what seemed like caked on mud.

Cloud pulled his hand away and rubbed it on his jeans, some of the grime still stuck to his own hand.

"You know, for every newbie we have a little initiation test for 'em!" Brian took a menacing step towards the blonde, who in turn took a step back. In his real personality, Cloud would have probably decked the guy by now, but he had to keep up the act, whether he liked it or not!

"And, uh, what's this initiation, exactly?" Cloud stuttered. He hated to stutter. He hadn't stuttered since he was first joining the army back in his home world.

Cloud looked behind this Brian kid and saw a bunch of gross looking boys following their leader. Shit, this was bad.

"Oh," Cloud turned back to the brunette before him, "just gotta stay conscious for the duration!" Cloud couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He glared at Brian with darkened eyes and growled quietly. He knew what was coming next.

He felt a fist connect with his jaw and he staggered backwards. The group of boys let out something like a battle cry and charged at him. Cloud dodged the first strike charged at him, and barely got away from the second, but the third made a connection with his eye and the next thing he knew, Cloud was on his back getting a beat down from the group of disgusting bullies.

_Just like high school_, Cloud thought darkly, remembering when he was a teen fox demon. Everyone would attack the new kid. And, he sadly realized, that he had joined in the first couple times.

Slowly, the punches started to fade and finally stopped all together. The group stood up and backed away from the beat blonde. The looked at him in disgust. Cloud did not get off of the ground and faked pained expressions. Actually, he only felt a small stinging, nothing more. It was barely even there. But, that was because he was used to pain and had been so much worse. He didn't like acting, all of a sudden.

"Pfft! What a wimp!" Cloud's eyes shot open and his fake moaning stopped. Brian was the one speaking. "He didn't even defend himself! Now he can't even stand up!" the brunette leader spat onto Cloud's cheek in disgust. "Weakling!" And the whole grouped laughed, just like androids.

Cloud's face burned red with pure rage and he gritted his teeth. Anger boiled within him. As the group started to leave him, he wiped the disgusting spit off his cheek and rubbed it off in the clay beneath him. The last to leave was Brian, who gave a triumphant and smug grin in the direction of Cloud. That smile made the blonde teen snap.

And, right when Brian turned his back to him, without a sound, Cloud swept Brian's feet out from under him with a swift kick. The brunette was hovering there for a second, his feet shooting out to the right as he fell. In a mere second, Cloud was behind his falling form, placed his hand against the side of Brian's face, and slammed the brunette's head into the ground. The slam was so hard that a few cracks formed in the ground and small clumps of clay were sent shooting straight up.

Cloud was swift and quickly zipped away from the scene before Brian himself knew who had attacked him. Cloud stood on a far wall, behind a few course equipment, hidden from the large group of cadets.

Brian's groupies were rushing over to their fallen leader asking him who had just done that, if he was all right, and the rare question of "where did that newbie go?"

_~After Training~_

The large group of cadets walked slowly and laboriously out of the training room. They all kept groaning about how much their legs hurt and how their arms ached, especially a certain brunette who had a very hurt head. Cloud shook his head as he went unnoticed in the back of the large group when he heard someone ask Brian who had attacked him and he answered that he didn't know.

Cloud knew Brian hadn't SEEN who had attacked him, for the blonde had been too fast to be noticed, but couldn't he just figure it out using logic? Well, obviously he was the idiot bully of this group of cadets.

Cloud decided to ignore the gossip and complaints of the other cadets. He didn't hurt at all. That course had been child's play for him. No, not child's play, more like a simple little game for toddlers. But, for everyone else, it was apparently the worst thing that ever happened to him or her.

He had been right on the lesson focusing on conditioning the young cadets.

"Lunch is soon!" Cloud jumped a little bit in surprise, not noticing the dark haired man walking next to him. His name was Carmille. He was a bit older then most the cadets in Cloud's group, but the blonde didn't mind. At least he'd have someone to have a nice, intellectual conversation with every now and again. Carmille had been Cloud's running partner in two of the courses.

The blonde wouldn't call him and the man friends, exactly, but more like acquaintances.

"Oh, yeah, so it is!" Cloud said softly, looking over at the brown-eyed man walking next to him.

"Hey, why ain't you tired? I'd expect you to be dragging yourself across the floor by now," Carmille inquired as he noticed Cloud's smooth, calm steps.

Cloud cursed himself and scolded himself inside his head. He had been doing so well in his acting during the training, acting like he was massively tired when he really wasn't. But, here he was, almost walking regally and with out tire like nothing had happened at all.

"Heh, I guess I can just catch my breath real fast!" Cloud said the best thing he could come up with at a second's notice.

"You guess? You could barely breath back there! They must have some sort of spell over that room or something!" Carmille wondered to himself. That was something Cloud had learned of his running partner instantly. He had a small attention span. He seemed to always fade to another subject and forget what he was talking about earlier.

Cloud blinked at the dark haired man for a bit as he looked on in thought. Carmille blinked a few times himself then suddenly had a look of recognition.

"HEY! MIKEY-BOY!! WAIT UP!!!" Carmille yelled after another cadet and ran forward to catch up with his friend. Cloud couldn't help but sigh, glad that the crisis was averted.

The group dispersed to go to their own rooms. Cloud headed to his own.

As he opened the door, it creaked loudly, and the blonde found what looked like folded clothes on his bed. He looked over them and found a note hidden under a few folds. It read:

Dear Cadet,

Welcome to ShinRa. We are happy that you have joined and are hoping you become a grand SOLDIER. These are your cadet uniforms. They need to drip dry or they will shrink. Good luck! And, don't die out there!

Cloud read over the last line again. "Yeah! That'll settle ANYBODIES nerves!" he grumbled sarcastically to himself. This was the weirdest note he had ever read. Well, other then that one note Kiva had passed to him during homeroom in second grade… don't ask…

Cloud crumbled up the note and threw it away in the small trashcan next to his door. He shrugged off the clothes he was wearing and slipped the uniform on. There were two extras just incase and he folded them and put them into his small closet.

The uniform was a bit big on him, but it allowed good circulation and it was easy to move in.

Cloud stepped out of his room and headed for the dining hall. He had memorized the lay out of the ShinRa building the night before and was ready to go anywhere. Cloud passed a group of gossiping cadets on his way that were saying something about a new cook in the dining hall.

The blonde king stepped into the room that was supposed to be the dining hall. It was a huge room actually. It had to be to hold all the cadets and SOLDIER. Cloud looked at the food line and realized, with a sigh, that it would take maybe thirty minutes to get through it.

So, he decided he'd just go and sit at a free table and wait for the line to shorten.

He was surprised to find a table with no one sitting at it. He took a seat near the end without hesitation. This was pretty nice. It would help with his persona and he wanted some nice peace and quiet.

Cloud set both his elbows on the table and propped his head in both his palms. He stared off at the far wall as he zoned out. He wasn't really thinking of anything, really. Just, thinking.

But, Cloud was pulled out of his thoughts as a bang across the table shocked him back to reality. He looked around for the source and soon saw a tall man standing across the table from him, his tray set in the place directly across from Cloud.

_He must have slammed the table_, Cloud realized.

The man across from him took a seat calmly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Now, what are you doing over here all by your lonesome?" the man questioned quite loudly, actually. Cloud looked over the man quickly. He had black, untamed hair and violet eyes. His skin wasn't exactly tanned, like Cloud's, but wasn't really pale either. And, Cloud realized, he was grinning from ear to ear. The smile reminded the blonde king of a certain red phoenix.

"Uh, well, actually I," Cloud started, trying to sound like he didn't know how to answer, but the black haired man held up his index finger as if to tell Cloud to be silent.

"Don't tell me! You're trying to put off the 'lone wolf' title, right?" the man questioned, his smile turning more into a smirk and he looked at Cloud through the corner of his eyes.

Cloud blinked a few times and finally decided to play along. This man seemed a lot like Kiva and he knew how to deal with people that seemed to have caffeine running through their veins.

"Yeah, you're totally right! Lone wolf is what I aim for!" Cloud smiled slightly. His cheeks hurt a bit at the forced grin. If he really did feel like smiling it would be fine, but he hadn't exactly had the best life and forcing a smile out of him never really went well.

The violet-eyed man's grin grew even wider, if that were possible. He laughed a thick laugh that echoed around the cafeteria. It earned a few weird looks from other cadets or SOLDIERs.

"I like ya, kid! You're ok!" the man slammed his hand against Cloud's shoulder, not meaning to make it so strong, the blonde guessed, and cause him to fall out of his seat with a yelp.

Cloud sat on the ground, his right leg still draped over his seat and his left out to the side. He crossed his arms angrily and glared up at the purple eyes that were peaking at him over the edge of the table.

"Sorry!" the man smiled sheepishly and Cloud rolled his eyes, but he still grabbed the hand that was offered to him to help him up. Cloud took his seat again and made no gesture that he was going to look at the man.

"I'm Zack, by the way!" the man introduced himself cheerfully. Cloud glanced over at the man, but remembered that he was trying to ignore him and quickly looked away again. Zack laughed again at Cloud's silliness.

"Cloud Strife," the blonde mumbled his name to the man. Zack leaned forward a bit towards the table and looked around with shifty eyes.

"And the boy of steal cracks under the pressure," Zack said as if he were some sort of game show host. Cloud rolled his eyes again and glanced at the lunch line. It was still pretty long, so he'd wait a few more minutes.

Cloud sat there for a while in silence, actually, and he started to wonder if that Zack guy had left. He didn't look over, though. He didn't really care. He just stared at the wall to his right, until a fork, with what looked like pasta on it, hovered in front of his face.

Cloud blinked at the food for a second then looked at the man holding the fork.

"What are you doing?" Cloud asked Zack blankly. The ravenette blinked at him with big eyes, his mouth like a simple dot. He just stared at the blonde a couple seconds, the wagged the fork up and down a few times.

"Eeeeeeeeeeat the food. Eeeeeeeat the food!" Zack whispered, continuing to wiggle the food in front of the new cadet's face.

"No thank you," Cloud pushed the food away from his face and back over to its owner. The smell was starting to get to him. He still had his acute sense of smell and the smell of food, namely the meat, was driving him crazy on the inside. It was lunchtime and he was hungry. He tried not to show it, but the loud growl that came from his stomach made his attempt pointless.

"Hey, kid, you gotta eat!" Zack smirked at the blonde who just shook his head.

Cloud jabbed a thumb at the long line. "I'm waiting for the line to get shorter." Zack clapped lightly on his palm with the tips of his fingers.

"Smart! Smart! Grand idea!" Zack mocked the way a smug "gentleman" may have spoken. Cloud arched his eyebrow at Zack as if he were crazy. Well, he probably was, but he wasn't going to actually ask him that.

A few more minutes passed and Cloud suddenly felt he needed to talk to someone. It was a very good thing that Zack had decided to come and keep him company. At least not everyone in the SOLDIER program was a total jerk.

"So, are you a cadet or SOLDIER?" Cloud asked slowly, turning to Zack and twiddled with his thumbs. He was surprised to see that the man hadn't touched his lunch of pasta yet.

The raven-haired man just grinned and laughed a little bit. "Actually!" Zack smiled happily as he dragged out the word. Cloud arched his eyebrow again at the odd man.

"Actually? What does that mean?" Cloud questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly and Zack chuckled.

"I'm the Lieutenant!" Cloud's eyes went wide with surprise and Zack burst into laughter at his expression. Cloud had not seen that coming. This crazy man was the Lieutenant? That just didn't seem possible! This man seemed like he needed help tying his boots in the morning!

"I know! SHOCKER!" Zack's smile never left as his laughter finally silenced. "So, what, are you? A new cadet, or what? I've never seen you around here!" Cloud shook his head to get it out of its haze and blinked at the ravenette.

"Huh?" he questioned him, blinking at him, and then remembered what he had been asked. "Oh! Yeah, I'm new here," Cloud paused a minute to think. "Sir," he finished with a flinch on the inside. He had to keep up the persona. It felt weird to call someone other then the members of the Grand Council "sir".

Zack's smile faltered a bit and he looked closely at the blonde. He reached over and poked Cloud's bruised face. Stupid Brian. "Some o' the other cadets rough you up a little?" Zack questioned, continuing to poke the bruise. Cloud didn't even flinch, because it didn't even hurt.

"That would be an understatement," Cloud mumbled. It was weird. Because his body was younger now, it held more injuries for a longer amount of time and bruised easily, but Cloud was used to pain in his mind and a few things he still possessed in this human form. He didn't really FEEL the pain, just knew it was happening.

"Eh, you seem pretty tough! It couldn't of been THAT bad!" Zack's full grin was back and Cloud flinched that time. He didn't mean to seem tough. He was supposed to look weak.

"Forget it," Cloud grumbled, shooing the meddlesome finger away from his face. He was starting to get a bit uncomfortable with the man across from him.

"Yeah! Yeah, sure!" Zack waved his hands in front of his chest as if to ward something off, which made Cloud flinch again. He looked a lot like Kiva when he did that. "Hey! The line's shorter! Go and get your food!" Cloud glanced at the shortened line, then back at Zack with a suspicious look.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" the blonde asked, meaning it to be a joke. The ravenette seemed to get it, for he started to laugh… again…

"NAH! NAH!" he said between his laughter, "You just need to eat somethin'!!" Cloud sighed and got up from the table. He stood at the back of the line and waited for his turn. He finally received his tray of pasta. Strips of meat were sprinkled over the noodles and he also had a good pile of peas and corn. He snatched a small carton of milk and went back over to his seat.

He was mildly surprised to see Zack still sitting there. Some part of him expected the Lieutenant to get up and leave while the blonde was still in the line. And, again, Cloud noticed that the man hadn't touched his food, yet. The king shrugged off the thoughts, grateful that the man hadn't left, and took his seat again.

"DIG IN!" Zack exclaimed suddenly, making Cloud jump in surprise. The violet-eyed man finally began to shovel in his own lunch and a small, real smile went across Cloud's lips.

_He waited for me to eat_, Cloud realized with joy as he began to eat his pasta slowly and with delicate manners. Zack paused for a second to look at Cloud and chuckled. Cloud looked at him through slightly narrowed eyes.

"What's so funny?" the blonde inquired.

"Oh nothing! Just, with all those manners you're using, you remind me of a friend of mine!" Zack smiled at Cloud then began to eat again. Cloud couldn't help but wonder who this "friend" was, but decided to leave it at that, seeing as Zack hadn't said it right then.

Cloud was busy finishing off his corn when Zack finally chugged down his drink and sighed with satisfaction. Cloud hadn't touched his milk yet, or finished his peas, but the crazy Lieutenant was already done.

Zack smiled a bit, then put his head on the table and stared at Cloud as he ate. Cloud blinked at him for a few seconds, his fork still in his mouth, and then finally placed the utensil down with a sigh.

"Yes, Sir? You need anything?" Cloud questioned blankly. Zack stared at him a few more seconds.

"Do you want your milk?" the ravenette finally asked. Cloud glanced at his milk.

"Yes sir, I do," the blonde answered.

He was about to go back to eating when Zack spoke again. "Are you sure?" Cloud set his fork down again and looked over at the odd man.

"Yes, I am sure," he answered, not really caring that he didn't say "sir".

The blonde waited a few more seconds to see if Zack asked him anymore questions. He didn't, so Cloud lifted up his fork again. He was about to put it and a small pile of peas into his mouth when, "Are you sure you're sure?" Cloud placed his fork down with an angry and loud sigh. He looked down at the grinning Lieutenant with an annoyed glare.

"Yes sir! I'm sure I'm sure!" Cloud ground out through gritted teeth.

"Are you sure you're sure you're—" Cloud cut off the Lieutenant's question by snatching his milk and quickly chugging it down.

"All gone!" Cloud stated, placing the empty carton back on his tray. Zack made a face, like a sad puppy, and pouted. Cloud rolled his eyes and began to eat his peas again.

He thought he was in the clear, until Zack spoke up again. "Do you want your peas?"

Cloud slammed his head on the table.

_~After Lunch~_

Cloud sighed angrily as he threw his tray away. Zack had finally stopped asking him if he wanted his own food. Cloud was very thankful for that. But, as a substitution, the crazy black-haired man had taken great joy in poking the blonde's gravity defying hair.

"IT'S LIKE A CHOCOBO'S BUTT!!!" Zack exclaimed cheerfully as he followed Cloud around the room, continuing to poke his hair.

_He's like a little kid!_ Cloud thought to himself.

"I'M GONNA NAME YOU SPIKY, AND YOU SHALL BE MINE!! HELLO LITTLE SPIKY!!!" Zack patted the top of Cloud's head happily, using a quote from some movie Cloud couldn't remember the title of.

The blonde could feel a vein pulse on his forehead in anger. "I am not a dog, sir!" Cloud ground out, exasperated. Zack just laughed and continued to poke the blonde's spikes. Cloud sighed and decided to try and ignore the annoying man.

He headed for the doors to go back to his room, but just as he opened the door, he ran into someone and fell flat on his back. Cloud groaned, more in frustration then in pain. He kept his eyes shut for the time being, trying to calm himself.

"Hey, Sephy! Whatcha' doin' here?!!" Zack questioned quite loudly. Cloud guessed he was talking to the man he had run into. What had he called him? Cloud's eyes snapped open and he gawked at the tall man standing before him.

"I needed to speak with you, Zackary," the man answered Zack, not even looking at the cadet that had run into him.

General Sephiroth!


	4. Chapter 3: Annoyances

Chapter three:

_Oh, shit,_ was the first thing to come to Cloud's mind as he saw General Sephiroth himself, right in front of him, and speaking to Zack like he wasn't even there. This wasn't happening! This was just his second day and he was already meeting, in a way, Sephiroth? This just couldn't be happening!!

Cloud shakily got up off the ground and stood a few feet away from the conversing SOLDIERs to dust himself off. He breathed in and out deeply a few times to control his sudden shock, and finally he turned to face the General and get a good look at him.

Holy crap!!!!!

This guy looked like he could tear a man into little, tiny pieces if he wanted to! Cloud gulped. This just wasn't his day.

"Er, I'm sorry I ran into you, General Sephiroth, sir," Cloud bowed his head and spoke quietly as if to seem humble and nervous. The nervous wasn't far from the truth. He may still be very powerful, but he was in a fragile, teen body now, and he did NOT want to get in a battle with this guy in this state!

Cloud glanced up slowly to see Sephiroth staring at him up and down with blank, emotionless eyes. Well, that reminded the blonde of himself and a bit of Zeek.

"At easy, cadet," Sephiroth spoke as if he were bored with him. Cloud could feel his face start to burn from anger and embarrassment. Though no one knew, it was almost revolting for him to bow to someone that was technically lower then himself. And his anger was boiling because of this so-called General's attitude.

_Stay calm, Cloud. You'll get away soon,_ Cloud reassured himself.

"This guy's new here, Seph!!" Zack introduced his new friend. "His name is Spiky!" Cloud glared at the ravenette, who just shrugged and grinned.

"No, sir," Cloud turned back to the silver-haired man, "My name is Cloud Strife." Sephiroth looked at the cadet for a moment longer then turned back to Zack. The blonde could almost feel the steam bursting out of his ears.

_I swear to Gaia, I'll rip his head off!!_ Cloud vowed silently, catching himself before he started to glare at the side of the General's head.

"We're needed for a mission, Zackary," the silverette spoke to the ravenette next to him.

"OKIE-DOKIE SEPHY!!" Zack did a mock salute and Cloud couldn't help let a small smirk escape his face. He was starting to like Zack's little nickname for the green-eyed man. Cloud made a mental note to use it one day.

"And you," Sephiroth suddenly turned to Cloud and the blonde went as straight as a board. "Get to the infirmary. We don't need any more injuries on missions then need be." Sephiroth's voice was still lined with boredom and Cloud's mind was still lined with anger.

But, the blonde really had no choice but to bow his head to the General and say, "Yes sir! Most definitely, sir!" He was about to straighten up again, when he heard Zack make a noise like he had just found something out.

"Looks like he's another one of your admirers, Seph!!" Zack grinned at his higher up. Two things were going through Cloud's mind then.

One was that he was happy that THAT part of his persona was going well.

The other was… _NO WAY IN HELL!!!!!!!! _Cloud screamed in his head.

Cloud looked up slowly and scratched the back of his neck. "It's, er, true sir. I joined because I wanted to be just like you! I've idolized you since I was younger!" Cloud spoke slowly and hesitantly, trying to keep up the act…

_~Later~_

Cloud scrubbed inside his mouth vigorously with his bath sponge, soap foaming everywhere.

He stopped for a minute and looked in the mirror. "I cannot believe I actually said that!" the blonde grumbled angrily, continuing to scrub. It had been the most disgusting thing he had ever done in his life, he predicted, and he prayed he wouldn't see that cat-eyed man ever again. Or, at least for a while.

Cloud finally put the sponge down and rinsed out his mouth. He was tired now, and he was pretty sure he had more lessons later that day. And, he was pretty sure they were school-like lessons, too. Which was good news to him!

He didn't want to seem strong with his physical abilities, but he DID want to seem very adept to his mental and intellectual abilities. That meant he didn't have to act that much. He just had to seem shy and quiet, is all.

Cloud glanced at his watch and realized the lessons started in about one hour. Plenty of time to rest for a bit.

Cloud left his tiny bathroom and sat on his bed. He, once again, pulled out his photograph album and flipped through it. The first picture he came upon this time made him actually laugh.

It was before he had become king and a little bit after he and the phoenix twins had met Zeek. Somehow, Kiva had been able to persuade Zeek into doing a prank with him. How the red head had done that, no one knew. But, anyway, Cloud and Zalu had been talking in half demon form and Kiva had snuck up behind the blonde and shoved him forward. The fox demon and blue phoenix had ended up kissing each other and Zeek had taken a picture of the moment. The two pranksters were in a world of hurt that day.

Cloud laughed softly. Sweet, sweet memories. He shut the book and put it back in its hiding place.

_~The Next Day~_

Blue eyes the color of the ocean and the sky mixed together opened slowly as dirty sunlight filtered in through the filthy window. The blonde groaned and scurried farther into his covers.

"Go away, sun, I don't wanna do paper work," the blonde grumbled angrily. It seemed like the light intensified a little and the teen moved away his covers. "Fine! You win!" the boy fell out of bed onto his stomach. "Ow, I must a' fallen asleep on the edge of my bed."

The blonde scrambled onto his feet and blindly looked for the light switch. He continually ran into some corner he forgot was there. Finally, his hand rested on the bump that was the light switch. He flicked it up, and did a double take.

"Holy Kyuubi on High!! Where am I?!" Cloud exclaimed in surprise. This wasn't his room! This place was disgusting and dirty and falling apart. Not like his tidy and well-kept chambers!!…

_Oh wait…_ Cloud's face took on one of disappointment, anger, and annoyance. Of course! How could he forget? It was only the third day into his mission and he was already overlooking it!

Cloud looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He had three hours until lessons.

Yippee…

Feel free to note the sarcasm…

Cloud sighed in aggravation and transformed into his half demon self. Nine, fluffy, golden tails flicked about behind him, long, golden, fox ears draped down against the blonde's head, his feet and calf were replaced with the feet and legs of a fox, his lower arms and hands were covered in golden fur, his fingers grew retractable claws, his teeth grew fangs, and his eyes became pure blue with a black slit for the pupil.

The teen wobbled over to his bathroom on his fox feet so he could clean up before classes. He undressed and turned on the water to a comfortable heat. His six, pure white wings with golden primary feathers formed out of his back as well.

He lazily slipped into the shower and sighed in content as the warm water hit his back and wings. He scrubbed his shampoo through his yellow lock, and his tails and ears.

The king finally finished his cleaning and stepped out of the shower. He rung out his hair and dried off his soaked body. The shower had woken him up quite well and now he slowly transformed back into his teen human form and trudged into the main room. He dressed into the cadet uniform and exited the room.

He was hungry and wanted breakfast. The day before he had missed it because he slept a little too late, but today he had plenty of time.

Cloud walked slowly through the maze of halls of the ShinRa building. He had had a very long day the day before and he was still a bit tired.

The blonde strolled into the dining hall and took a place in the breakfast line. It was much shorter then the lunch and dinner lines. Cloud guest it was because lunch was when most SOLDIER and cadets were either around or awake. Dinner, a good amount of people were getting back from patrols and just wanted to go to bed, or they were on missions and were even around. Breakfast, most of the cadets would sleep through and most of the SOLDIER were too busy.

As the demon king waited for his turn to take his meal, he heard some cadets in front of him talking about a new cook. Cloud remembered passing a group of teens talking about the very same subject just the day before. It was starting to make the blonde very curious.

It finally came time for Cloud to get his breakfast, and as he stepped forward to the serving lady, he took a peek behind her. What he saw was a woman, medium in height, with a black baseball cap on her head, all her hair tucked into it, and a pair of sunglasses lazily set on her nose, hiding her eyes from view. The cook turned to work with one of the pots and a strand of hair fell out of her hat. The woman quickly tucked it back and Cloud took his meal.

The blonde sat at the same seat that he had sat at the day before at lunch and dinner. At dinner the night before, that Zack man had not joined the blonde, and Cloud guessed that he had gone on that mission Sephiroth had mentioned. But, today, as the blonde took a seat and began to eat, something hit his hair. Cloud batted it away, thinking it was a bug, but it came back. He batted it away again, but then something yanked on one of Cloud's spiky locks.

"YOUCH!" the blonde yelped, falling backwards, onto his back, onto the ground. He glared straight up at a beaming man's face.

"Hello Lieutenant Zack. Do you need anything?" Cloud ground out, crossing his arms over his chest, but made no move to get back into his seat. Zack continued to grin and, with ease, lifted Cloud back into his chair.

"Maaaaaaaaybe!" Zack grinned, taking a seat next to the demon fox.

"I'm not giving you any of my food," Cloud groaned and he heard Zack curse under his breath.

"What if I ordered you to give me something?" Zack inquired, grinning at his idea.

"Still not gonna happen," Cloud started to eat his oatmeal.

"Hey! You could get kicked out if you don't follow my orders!" Zack made a fake hurt expression mixed with fake surprise.

"Then I'll just have to find a new job!" Cloud answered, smirking slightly. The ravenette started to laugh then. He smacked Cloud's back in joy, but only succeeded in nearly knocking the blonde's face into his meal.

"Oops! Sorry!" He didn't sound very sorry to Cloud. The cadet simply sighed and continued to eat his meal.

"I thought you were on a mission with General Sephiroth, sir," Cloud turned his questioning eyes towards the purple-eyed man, only to see his hand very close to his head, about to poke his gravity defying hair. Zack made a nervous laugh as Cloud semi-glared at him, and quickly moved his hand away.

"I was! But, we finished just last night!" the Lieutenant replied, smiling.

"You're just cool like that, huh?" Cloud smiled, feeling like he should be humorous at the moment. Zack smiled even bigger and flexed his arms.

"Welcome to the gun show!" Zack randomly announced, continuing to flex his arm muscles.

Cloud sighed, shook his head, but smiled nonetheless. This man was so much like Kiva, and now that he thought about it, he was a lot like another one of his dear friends named Qliphoth. Qliphoth was a very interesting story and wasn't technically a demon at all! But, she always had a smile on her face and was being crazy. The king would have welcomed the woman into his mission, but she was out on her own important mission for the time being. At least, Cloud was pretty sure she was out on the mission.

"So, what's new?" Zack crossed his arms and set them onto the table surface. He waited for the blonde to answer patiently, the smile on his face never leaving.

"There's a new cook," Cloud replied blankly. Zack glanced at him for a second, then nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! She's new! Glad she came, too!" Zack responded and Cloud arched an eyebrow at him. "The old one's food was absolutely terrible!" Zack answered the question that was written over the blonde's face.

The blonde nodded in understanding. "So… what does she look like? Without those glasses and that hat, I mean."

The black-haired man scratched the back of his head and thought hard.

_Don't hurt your brain,_ Cloud thought to himself as Zack's eyebrows scrunched together in thought.

"Ya know! I don't know! But, I've heard she's a looker!" Zack finally replied.

Cloud couldn't help but sigh at the answer. He had been hoping that the Lieutenant knew so that he could put the nagging interest out of his mind. For, when that one strand of hair had fallen out, Cloud had seen the color. And, in all honesty, he prayed he was wrong and that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The color of that one strand had been a shimmering silver, like the moon at it's brightest.

The blonde king continued to eat his breakfast, his mind racing, and as he continued to think about it all, he became more and more sure of his prediction.

_Damn it, if Zalu sent you, I'll strangle her!_ Cloud vowed inside his head.

--------------------

CLIFF HANGER!!!!

Ok, sorry that it's shorter then the others, but I couldn't think of much to do. I mean, I have a lot planned out, but I didn't see how it could fit into this chapter. I'm sorry if it was slow in any way, and I wanted to inform all readers that there will NOT be yaoi in this book. Though, I do plan on writing a second book from this one and it WILL contain yaoi.

Also, I want to hear what YOU think of this story and if you have ANY suggestions! Please Review! Also, if you do have a suggestion for this story and I end up using it, I will make sure to give that reader/author all credit for that idea!

Qliphoth, so you know, is another one of Cloud's close friends. She hasn't been mentioned in the past because she's normally away on missions. But, she is one of Cloud's closest friends and he met her AFTER he met Zeek. Go here to see what she looks like, if you want:

LunartheDragon dot deviantart dot com/art/Quliphoth-FF7-OC-121873529

She actually started off as a different OC in a different FFVII story and I don't know if I should post it…

Well, thank you for reading this update and thank you for reading my story. I'm also very grateful to you if you have reviewed!

Until the next chapter!

LunartheDragon signing off


	5. Chapter 4: Problems

Chapter Four:

Cloud walked ever so quietly over to the kitchen door. He looked around to make sure no one was looking before zipping inside. He quickly hid behind a small table to keep away from the watchful eyes, or what he assumed to be watchful, of the new cook.

He peaked out and looked for his target.

The cook was there, and seemed to have no idea that he was just a few feet away. She was stirring what the blonde guessed would be lunch.

The fox king had been planning on sneaking in to the kitchen and speaking with this cook all through out his breakfast. He had had such good luck when Zack had been called out to go to some special training First Class SOLDIER were required to go through. It was such a stroke of luck, and Cloud liked it!

The demon king swiftly hid behind the table again before anyone could notice him and leaned his back against his shelter.

He breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth. He was a bit on edge seeing as this was his first time sneaking about in such a fragile body. He knew he was strong and fast, but that's not all that was needed to get through sneaking about.

"Stay calm. Focus on the mission," Cloud whispered personal directions to himself. "She won't notice you until—" the blonde's thoughts were cut off abruptly.

"Who won't notice you?" Cloud nearly jumped through the ceiling. The blonde turned his head upward to see the cook leaning over the table and looking down at him with a smirk. And, if Cloud had predicted right, her eyes were probably curved into upside down U's.

"Er, no one, really!" Cloud said quickly and he mentally slapped himself. _Great excuse, Einstein!_ the blonde thought to himself. That was the best he could think up?

"Really?" the cook drew out the word as she walked over to stand on the same side of the blonde and squat down next to him. "Then tell me, big boy, why are you in my kitchen?" Cloud's fear left immediately and he narrowed his eyes to the woman next to him. The voice, the hair color, and the way she had just called him "big boy" made the king's predictions true.

"Hi, Qliphoth," Cloud groaned slightly as his good friend's grin grew. The woman swiftly took off her hat and glasses and set them on the floor. Her silky silver hair that reached down to her mid calf slipped out and her glowing, slitted green eyes danced with happiness. The two strands that she had dyed blue framed her face perfectly.

"'Bout time you came to visited me in my new accommodations!" Qliphoth smiled, motioning to the room they were in. Cloud didn't seem very happy, though, even through the silverette's humor.

"Did Zalu send you here?" the king said, all emotion wiped from his voice. Actually, he was very angry at the moment, but he didn't want to let it out on one of his best friends. He didn't know why, but he just had difficulty getting angry at Qliphoth. And when he did, it always had a playful tone to it. The blonde king had pondered this event many times, but could never come up with an answer.

Qliphoth didn't even waver, just continued to smile. She poked her superior's cheek playfully and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much! I got back from my mission an hour or so after you left. I was SOOOOOO surprised when they told me about the mission! It was actually Kiva's idea to send me! Zalu just addressed it and wrote down the paper work and stuff!" Qliphoth giggled slightly and threw her arms around Cloud's neck. "It's so good to see you after so long! I've missed ya, buddeh!"

Cloud gasped at the sudden hug, but finally calmed and just sat there as his over active friend choked him. Her mission had been a good three months long. They hadn't intended it to, but things had gotten out of hand.

"It's good to see you too," Cloud spoke truthfully. Deep down, he was actually grateful to Zalu and Kiva. It was good to have friends on the mission now. And also good to have back up.

Qliphoth finally stopped her headlock and moved a few inches away from her king. "You're cute in teen form!" she giggled and Cloud prayed she didn't tackle him like his advisor had.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks!" the fox demon rolled his eyes and looked at the silverette. "Hey, you gotta be careful, though! Undercover work is—"

"Hard? Dude, I specialize in undercover work in this dimension! Come on! I think I'll be fine!" the cat-eyed woman gave a knowing smile to her king.

"Right! Nevermind! Well, anyway, I should probably get out of here," Cloud looked around his friend at the serving lady who had still not noticed him or her new cook's absence. "How has she not noticed…" the blonde let the question die as his friend looked back at her temporary boss.

"Oh, her, yeah, she's pretty dense. And she can barely hear! It's actually really funny!! The old geezer is fun to mess with!" Qliphoth giggled again, turning back to the demon king.

"No pranking the old people," Cloud warned blankly, realizing he had said that warning to her and Kiva many times in the past. It was kind of frightening.

The silverette rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Zalu sent something with me for you, too!" Qliphoth dug in her pocket and pulled out a black cell phone and a small book. She offered them to her king, who took them politely. "The phone you can use to call Zalu, Zeek or…" Qliphoth thought if she should say Kiva. "Nah! Pretty much just Zalu or Zeek if you need any help from them! Obviously, you can also call other people! It IS a phone after all!"

Cloud looked at the phone for a second. "Uh, can phones get reception between different dimensions?"

The only thing he got in return to his question was a bop on the head and a, "It's specially made, numb-skull!" The fox demon glared at his friend then focused his attention on the small book in his hand.

"THAT is a summoning book, if you need any items from back home! Zeek made it up, so you should give him a call and thank him for his hard work!" Qliphoth explained as Cloud flipped through the book's many pages. Each page had a specific item to summon from, Cloud being able to tell because he could read each symbol. The beginning mainly held more personal things, such as his swords. The middle was more practical and common devices, the back held creature summons, and the very end had a few empty pages if Cloud wanted to create his own summon.

"I'll make sure to thank Zeek the next chance I get!" the blonde assured the green-eyed woman, who smiled and began to tuck her hair back into her hat. "Two more things, Qliph," Cloud drew the woman's attention back to him. She made a "hmmm?" noise as she finally was able to put on her hat, hiding away all her hair.

The blonde smiled warmly at his friend. It was a smile that could probably melt the whole of the Northern Region back in his home dimension. "Good luck," he wished her only to make her grin grow.

"Hey! It's ME we're talking about here!" Qliphoth laughed, grabbing her sunglasses.

"That's what I'm worried about," Cloud murmured, only to earn him a punch in the arm.

"What's the second thing?" Qliphoth pouted but there was a hint of a smile still there.

Cloud pointed to something behind his friend. "That soup is burning," he said flatly.

"HOLY!!!" Qliphoth shrieked, donning her glasses quickly as she rushed over to the meal. She yelled a few other choice words that should probably not be repeated in this story as she treated the lunch. When the soup was finally fine and cooking properly, Qliphoth sighed and turned back to where her best friend had been hiding.

He was gone.

_~With Cloud~_

The blonde ran his hand through his hair in stress. He was happy that Qliphoth was on the trip now, too, don't get him wrong, but it just opened up a lot more headaches in his near future. She was a great friend, but she didn't seem to have caffeine running through her blood. Her blood WAS caffeine!

_One of these days her smile's gonna tear her head in half,_ Cloud thought to himself. He wouldn't be surprised if it did!

He pocketed the two new items that had just come into his possession and headed for the training grounds. Breakfast, talking with Zack, saying good-bye to Zack, and speaking with Qliphoth had taken up more time then he expected. And, he was pretty surprised by how long it took to say good-bye to the Lieutenant. He just made a huge scene about friendship and never being separated and all that stuff.

Zack would be great friends with Kiva and Qliphoth, Cloud just knew it.

As the fox king entered the training room, instinct got the best of him and he quickly moved out of the way of an on coming punch. Cloud sighed inwardly as he glared up at the owner of the fist.

"What do you want this time, Brian?" Cloud groaned.

"The initiation ain't over, punk!" Brian growled, as Cloud stood straight. The blonde sighed at how sad and stupid the brunette was. Honestly, he really wanted to keep this up? Well then, fine! Cloud would just bash his head in again! Brian's groupies, or as Carmille liked to call them, the Brian clones, circled around the fox demon.

Cloud grimaced and took on a loose fighting pose, trying to make it look like it wasn't very strong or well practiced. The group slowly drew closer and as the first punch came, Cloud avoided, but didn't see the kick to the head.

The demon was sent straight to the ground, the kick making his vision blur. Stupid, weak body! Cloud cursed himself as he could feel kick after punch rain down on him. A specific kick in the ribs made him yelp. Why did it hurt so much all of a sudden? Cloud guessed it to be the blow to the head.

Soon, just like before, the attacks subsided after a small time. The bullies moved away slowly and Cloud could see Brian smirk through his blurred sight.

"As pathetic as always!" Brian said smugly and started to walk away. He was the first to leave, so the demon king couldn't do a repeat of the day before, but he had ideas.

The blonde gently put one finger on the clay ground and willed the earth below his enemy to shift suddenly and sent Brian flying onto his face. Cloud poked the ground and the clay popped the brunette into the air by about a foot. Quickly, Cloud blew out of his mouth and a huge gust of wind sent Brian flying into the wall, face first, cracks spreading around his body.

His posse rushed over to him and tried to peel him off the wall. He wouldn't budge.

Cloud slowly got up and dusted himself off, all pain and blurred vision gone. He watched for a few seconds as some of the cadet's tried to help the brunette lodged in the wall. Most of the group in the room, though, just stared in shock.

Cloud felt the presence of Carmille as he walked over to him. "OMG! Invisible warriors!!" Carmille whispered, wide eyed. The blonde could only grin to himself. And, as his watch showed it time for class to start, still no one could get Brian out of the wall. It made Cloud curious as to how their teacher might react if he came in and saw his student rammed into a wall.

He would find out soon, for their mentor strolled in through the doors with a file in his hands, his nose buried in it. The whole class froze in their spots as their teacher, SOLDIER Second Class Logan, finally shut the file and looked around. His gaze was stuck on the brunette that was stuck in the wall.

"Might I inquire as to why Mr. Brian is stuck there?" Logan said slowly, not really knowing how to react to this situation.

"Invisible warriors," Carmille said calmly, not missing a beat. Logan looked at him like he was crazy. "Well, we got no other explanation!" Cloud's dark haired friend shrugged nonchalantly and the blonde rolled his eyes.

Logan sighed and marched over to the cadet in the wall. He gripped the teen's hair and in one movement, yanked the brunette out. Brian yelped in pain, and just lay there on the ground. The Brian clones ran to help their leader, while the rest of the cadets lined up, ready for the lesson. Cloud lined up, too, but was having a difficult time holding back his laughter.

Finally, Brian and his clones were in the line as well and the lesson could begin.

"Alright! We have a different lesson today. A SOLDIER First Class is going to be teaching you today," Logan announced and the cadets cheered, other then Cloud. He didn't know what to make of this, and he thought acting silent would help with the new-guy-doesn't-know-much personality.

"Sometimes a SOLDIER First comes to teach us a lesson," Carmille whispered to the blonde. "It's really cool! I wonder who it is this time! Wouldn't it be cool if General Sephiroth taught us?" Carmille's eyes went hazy as he daydreamed.

_No_, the fox king thought blankly. "Has the General ever taught the cadets?" Cloud prayed his new friend would say no.

"Yeah!" the demon fox cursed under his breath. "But, it's rare! I mean, he's supposed to train the SOLDIERs mainly, but sometimes he'll come and train the cadets."

Cloud inwardly sighed, praying to God, Gaia, Kyuubi, the Lifestream, and to any other high entity he could think up that Sephiroth didn't train them today.

"The First Class will be," Logan opened his file again and scanned over it, "Oh, lucky you, General Sephiroth!" The group, including Cloud, lit up in cheers of happiness. Oh! No, the blonde wasn't happy, but his persona called for it. "Strife, go get the practice swords and pads and meet us at training ground 6 outside." Cloud saluted to Logan and hurried over to the supply closet. He was at least grateful that he got to go and think of how he should act.

The supply closet was huge. The blonde wasn't surprised. He walked stiffly over to a box of training pads and training swords. He took one of the wooden swords out slowly. He positioned it in front of him…

…And began to beat his head with it over and over, wishing it would just knock him out then and there.

_~Training Ground Six~_

The cadets were all shaking, from what Cloud could tell. They stared with admiration and fear at the tall man before them. The blonde sighed, thinking that this would end very badly, and dragged the box onto the training grounds. He was happy they were outside. He loved outside. Call him a dog if you want, but when someone mentioned "outside" he'd become a very happy king and would follow that person without hesitation. Well, if they were a friend, of course.

No one except Logan and Sephiroth turned to Cloud as he came up. The blonde didn't mean to, but as he walked over, set the box between Logan and the general, saluted, and went and took his place in the line of cadets, he had walked with an air of power. He had walked with calmness and strength. The blonde cursed himself as he realized everyone had noticed, and he grinned sheepishly.

He hated grinning sheepishly.

It was degrading!

But, the walking thing was passed over as Sephiroth began to speak. Cloud listened the first little bit, and then realized what he was talking about and that he already knew it all. He just zoned out then, not really caring at all. He thought no one had noticed his dazed look, until Carmille swiftly elbowed him in the ribs. Cloud made no noise at all and turned to listen to Sephiroth once more. He glared at the dark haired cadet next to him every few seconds.

Finally, training began.

_Seph talks too much,_ the blonde cadet confirmed inside his head, enjoying using the general's nickname, even if no one could hear it. Better then nothing!

The cadets lined up in front of Logan, who held a round, cushioned pad in his right hand. They were required to stab the pad right in the center without hesitation. Cloud was last in line because he was the newest, and he was slightly thankful.

The line moved quickly, and it was nearly the blonde teen's turn when he heard Brian talking a few feet away. The brunette had already gone and was speaking to his clones.

"I bet you the loser misses the pad totally," Brian whispered, loud enough that Cloud could hear. It was almost disturbing that the blonde knew they were talking about him. He heard the clones agree instantly with their leader and the fox demon couldn't help but role his eyes.

_Bunch of idiots is what they are,_ he thought sourly.

"Strife! You're up," Logan drew the blonde's attention back and Cloud immediately bolted forward, the sword in grip. Well, Sephiroth had said no hesitations, and that's just what Cloud did. He made no hesitation as he slammed the sword into the pad so hard that it busted it open. Everyone gawked at him, not knowing what to say.

Cloud didn't know what to say either. He didn't know how to react. He hadn't hit the pad THAT hard, had he? The blonde realized that he had to learn his limits in this body and figure out how far he could really go. He guessed that his anger towards Brian had also provoked this power.

Cloud looked around a little bit. Logan had fallen on to his butt at sometime from the shockwave of the attack. All the cadet's jaws were wide open and their eyes were wide. And Sephiroth was staring at him, arms crossed over his chest. He seemed the calmest of them all, his face stone, but Cloud had learned how to interpret people's emotions by looking at them. He did it for a living. And he could tell that Sephiroth was curious where all that power had come from. That made a smirk form on the blonde's face.

Cloud turned on his heels and strolled calmly back to the back of the line, not caring that he was walking with power again, and enjoying the look of fear from Brian when he glared at him as he passed.

_~In A Dark Cave Somewhere~_

**"So, he's on a special mission, you say?"** a dark voice said calmly to the being before him. His white fangs forever stained with the blood of his prey/enemy grinned sadistically at the news. The being before him, a being that took the form of a human woman, but could never be called human, stood calmly before the creature.

"Yes, sir, in the human world," the "woman" said, her voice void of all emotions. She stared up at the dark being she now worked for.

**"We should pay him a visit soon!"** the dark being cackled, some of the stones shaking with his laughter. **"Maybe rip off a few of his limbs as a welcoming present!"**

The "woman" turned dull, green eyes to the dark being and stared at him blankly. "You will not forget our deal, Blackcrown! I help you find Magnorak and you help me annihilate Experiment 536," the being spoke, venom stinging her words. The dark creature now known as Blackcrown turned his red eyes towards the being before him, a scowl of disgust stretching his features.

**"Don't underestimate me, machine!"** he spat out and the "woman" growled slightly. **"I remember our deal perfectly! Do you think me to be an idiot?" **The "woman" turned away, her arms loosely crossed over her chest. **"Don't you dare act scared, you lifeless THING! You have no emotions,"** the being flinched at that. Must he always remind her?

She turned back to her boss and bowed to him, her long, untamed, silver hair falling forward, masking away her emotionless face. "I am very sorry, master," she strained the last word. Blackcrown just scoffed at her.

**_"GO!"_** the cave shook from the dark creatures command as he turned away towards the back of the cave. **"Find out more of Magnorak's whereabouts. I must contact his Highness of this news."** And with that, Blackcrown walked back into the cave, leaving the emotionless, silver-haired "woman" by herself.

"The king will be most happy," she whispered, then turned the other way her boss had gone. "EXTINCT! EXCEED!! EX-RAY!!! COME!"

Three small creatures with wings for ears ran out from the shadows. They were about the size of a medium sized dog, and grey fur covered their bodies. As they ran towards their master they continually said, "Yes! Yes, master! Coming, master! Yes, master!"

"We have work to do," the "woman" said coldly, leading her three minions out of the cave.

**~Authors Note! Please Read!~**

OK! So, here's chapter four! I'm sure some of you are confused, but that's what I actually aimed for!

The plot thickens!

So, it came to my attention that some of you might be confused of what Cloud and his demon forms look like! Well, here are a few descriptions!

Full Demon: a large, nine-tailed fox, bigger then a horse, golden pelt. White markings on back. Six, white wings with gold primary feathers that can form into or out of his body. Fur is a bit spiky on head. Long ears. Long claws

Adult Human: Like Advent Child Cloud but with fancier clothes. Pupils are slits.

Teen Human: Like Cloud from Crisis Core, except skin is a lot tanner.

Half Demon: Without demonic appendages he looks about the age in between the young and adult form because in half demon form he has to age BOTH demon and human cells. Has fox feet and legs. Arms and hands are covered in fur. all the fur he has is golden. Hands and feet have claws. Ears are fox ears. Fangs. Has nine tails. Tails are a lot more fluffy and soft in this form then in full demon form for some reason. Six white wings with gold primary feathers. Wings can form in and out of body.

Well, I hope this cleared up some of the confusion! If you need another description of someone in the story, please tell me!

**~POLL~**

1. If Zack were a demon, which would he be? (I'm not saying he's going to be a demon. It might just be like someone's saying he'd be good as that one)

-Werewolf (tell me what color)

-Hellhound (give example of appearance)

-Elemental Wolf (which element?)

-Chimera

-Cerberus

2. Should Qliphoth meet Sephiroth and Zack soon?

-Yes (how soon?) (how should Sephy and Zack react?)

-No, wait for a while


	6. Chapter 5: Pranks

Chapter Five:

A week. A whole, damn, boring, mind numbing, headache making week.

Cloud plopped onto his bed, his annoying, uncomfortable, squeaky bed. He had just finished a patrol with two other cadets he didn't know. They wore those lame-o helmets that looked retarded and high-tech-y at the same time. Cloud NEVER wore those dumb helmets.

Geeze, it had only been a week and already the blonde was ranting about how stupid and annoying everything was and how bad he wanted to leave. No, he wasn't tired or thought the lessons and stuff to be to hard. It was the fact that they WEREN'T that he hated! He was SOOOOOO bored.

He was happy though, and thanked Gaia that he had Zack and Qliphoth to keep him company. That really helped keep his sanity in check. He'd go and visit Qliphoth a lot in the kitchen, most visits ending with the silver-haired woman burning something, and he and Zack had become fast friends, almost inseparable. They always ate at the same table and spoke about anything really. Though, the blonde did grow tired with the ravenette's constant teasing.

Today, though, other then the patrol he had just been on, Cloud was totally free. No lessons or anything. He could just relax. He believed it to be some dead guy's birthday or something, but he didn't really know. He wasn't very good with the history of this world. It was his weak point. But, at the moment, he didn't really care.

Another good thing was that ever since that training lesson one week ago, Cloud hadn't seen or heard that vain general at all. Cloud cheered in his head.

He had been plotting, actually. It's what foxes do. He wanted to prank that silver-haired man, and he was planning on pranking him soon! He had asked Qliphoth to drop by his room when she was free so she could help him out.

There was a knock on the door and Cloud quickly zoomed off his bed to answer it. It was Qliphoth, as expected, and he quickly pulled her inside and shut the door.

"So whatcha need, Taco?" Qliphoth grinned, sitting down on Cloud's bed. The blonde gritted his teeth. He didn't like that nickname. The cat-eyed girl always came up with weird nicknames for people. "Taco" had been when she started calling Cloud "Storm Cloud". That had turned into "Hurricane", then "Tornado", then "Toquito", then "Burrito", and finally "Taco".

"I need some help," the fox demon said to his friend.

"No duh! I figured that out!" Qliphoth retorted, grinning. The blonde rolled his eyes and continued.

"You specialize in undercover work, right?" the silverette nodded slowly. "Well, to specialize in undercover, you have to pass A-Rank in stealth, correct?" Qliphoth grinned wide.

"You need me to sneak around don't you? Have anything to do with the mission? Or is your foxy instinct kicking in?" the green-eyed woman giggled, but Cloud shook his head.

"No, but I want you to teach me the 'Technorian Slip'," Cloud replied calmly, standing in front of his friend, his arms crossed over his chest. The Technorian Slip was a stealth ability that allowed the user to become "invisible" to electronics, but not to the human eye. Now, if that person were caught on a camera, the video would not show them for it would be going through a machine feed.

"When do you need to use it?" Qliphoth's tone went serious for a minute. When it came to stealth and sharing her secrets, Qliphoth was very serious about it.

"By this evening, at least," the king answered without hesitation, only to have the silverette stand up and punch him in the arm, her eyes narrowed.

"God damn it, Mag!" Qliphoth growled, accidentally using the demon's old nickname, the one nickname she used that actually fit with the real name, Magnorak, "I can't teach you a move in just a few hours!" Cloud rubbed his now soar arm. Qliphoth was tough, and she could make him feel the pain.

_Now I'll probably have a bruise or something!_ Cloud grumbled inside his mind.

"Look, I'm a very fast learner! I'm the most powerful demon in all of Western Region!" Cloud testified against his friend's rude treatment.

"Don't get cocky around me!" Qliphoth wagged her finger in the blonde's face angrily.

"Look, as your king, I ORDER you to teach me the move! Or at least show me how to do it and I'll figure it out myself!" Cloud retorted angrily, not feeling like dealing with Qliphoth's sass. Sometimes, the silverette could be a royal pain in the ass!

Qliphoth glared at her king a few more seconds, the king glaring right back, until she finally sighed her defeat and stood up straight. "Fine, fine! But, I deserve to know why you need it TODAY," Qliphoth arched a delicate eyebrow and stuck her hands on her hips.

Cloud smiled slightly; glad he had won the debate. "Tonight is the night of the half moon. I turn half demon tonight," the cat-eyed woman narrowed her eyes in curiousity. "Well, I want to use that form to my advantage!"

"Prank?" the silverette guessed.

"Prank," the blonde nodded, only to make Qliphoth grin bigger.

_~Around 3pm~_

Cloud walked stiffly down the halls towards Sephiroth's office. From his understanding, the general was out on a mission for the time being. He thanked Qliphoth for getting that information for him. His cadet helmet was worn over his head so as to cover what he looked like. He didn't want anyone recognizing him now. And, heaven forbid, him to run into Zack without hiding his face.

Cloud had decided to turn into his adult form for this, so no one could even tell who he was from his taller stature and deeper voice. The uniform was a bit on the tight side, but he was able to squeeze into it.

As he passed a man with red hair, the redhead quickly grabbed his arm. Cloud froze, trying to act surprised, when in truth he had seen the hand coming before it had even left the other man's side.

"What do you think you're doing up here, cadet?" the man growled and Cloud made a gulping sound. He praised himself at his great acting skills.

"I-I was asked t-t-to s-speak with G-General S-S-Sephiroth, sir. A-another cadet gave me th-this letter," Cloud stuttered. He still hated stuttering. He'd never get over that.

The redhead eyed him suspiciously, letting go of his arm, and placing them on his hips in a feminized fashion.

_Gay,_ Cloud decided as the man puckered his lips in thought. _Definitely gay…_

"Let me see the letter," the man commanded and the blonde handed him the folded piece of paper in his grip. The redhead read over it. Blinked a few times. Read over it again. Then finally nodded and handed the letter back to Cloud.

"Alright, fine, hurry up and go!" the man commanded and Cloud inwardly smirked at his idiocy. Obviously this man did not know that the general was out on a mission.

As the man turned and began to walk away, Cloud flicked his wrist in his direction. He knew that the redhead wouldn't remember ever even seeing him in a few seconds.

The demon king turned back in the direction he was going. He congratulated himself in his great skills of forgery. All he had to do was look at a sample of Sephiroth's writing and he could easily copy his handwriting within a few seconds. It was very simple to make a fake letter.

The blonde took in a deep breath as he stepped in front of the general's office door. He concentrated on his inner energy and could feel the Technorian Slip's distinct energy signature wash over him. It was working!

The fox demon swiftly typed a combination of numbers onto the code pad next to the door and he couldn't help but grin as the doors slid open instantly. Oh, he was good!

Cloud zipped into the room, trying to make as little sound as possible. He looked around, scanning the walls and ceiling. He took off his annoying and uncomfortable helmet and tucked it under his arm. His slitted eyes stared straight at a security camera that was hidden within the ceiling tiles.

_I can hear its movements,_ Cloud said disapprovingly inside his mind. They should make these cameras undetectable. Though Cloud had been trained to be able to pick up stuff like this, just like everyone in security class back home, it was still much too easy.

The blonde skittered over to the camera, digging his fingers into the ceiling and holding himself there, upside down.

_Dude! I'm Spiderman!_ Cloud grinned happily. He didn't know why, but he always got this weird jitter when on a stealth mission. He guessed it was because being a fox he loved to sneak around.

Cloud carefully moved the tile out of the way just enough for him to reach up and snip a wire. The camera turned off with a 'beep! Beep! Beep… beep…… booooooop!'

_Aw! It died!_ Cloud thought jokingly. He was having way too much fun, and he wasn't even pranking the guy yet!

The blonde king made quick work of the other cameras and he let the Technorian Slip fade away from his body, seeing as he could no longer be seen anyway. He slipped the helmet back onto his head slowly, cursing at how retarded and uncomfortable it was.

The fox demon finally walked out of the room calmly and headed back to his room. He was to set the pranks tonight when he was a half demon.

_~That Evening~_

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" the squeal was so loud Cloud had to cover his ears.

"QLIPH!!! QPLIPHOTH!!! STOP!!! ENOUGH!!! IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL!!!" Cloud screeched over his friend, whose squeals finally ceased.

"Not a big deal?! NOT A BIG DEAL!?" Qliphoth suddenly wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck, cutting off airflow. "THIS IS THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!!! YOU ARE FOLLOWING IN MY FOOT STEPS!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" the walking coffee pot began to squeal in happiness again. She quickly let go of the blonde king's neck and began to bounce around his small room in joy. Cloud could only sigh at her hyperness.

"I'm going to be turning into a half demon soon," the fox demon said, glancing out the window as the sun slowly set behind the murky, dark buildings of Midgar.

"How can you even tell?" Qliphoth bounced by, glancing out the window as she went. "I can barely see the sun through that icky blech in the sky!" Cloud had to agree with the silverette on how polluted and disgusting the skies were in this world.

"Don't you need to get back to your own room?" the blonde growled at the cat-eyed woman as she nearly knocked over a lamp on the bedside table.

"Trying to kick me out, eh?" Qliphoth glared at Cloud, her fists placed on her hips.

The demon king blinked at her a few times. "Yes, actually, I am," he said blankly. Qliphoth glared at him a few more seconds.

"OTAY!!!" she grinned and zoomed out the door happily. The blonde smacked his palm against his forehead in annoyance.

Cloud sighed and shook off his irritation at his mission coworker. He walked over to the tiny, disgusting window and creaked it open. It was a very loud, rusty window.

Another thing to add to Cloud's ever growing list of things he hated on this mission.

The blonde backed up a few feet, readied his feet, and with a running start, jumped out the window. As he fell towards the streets below, he could feel his six wings form out of his back and fan out. The next thing he knew he was barrel rolling through the sky in half demon form. He made sure to stay out of anyone's line of vision, mainly staying in the clouds.

The clouds themselves smelled terrible. The pollution in this world would always disgust the fox demon. What could he say? He was an animal, basically. A natural born hippie!

Cloud flew around the skies just a little longer until the sun finally fully set and the half moon rose, it's white light glinting of the blonde's wings majestically. The king loved to fly about during the night. He could relax, not worry about paper work, and at the same time keep an out on the horizon for any attacking army.

He sighed slightly. It seemed that in every world there was war. Here in the human world it was ShinRa against Wutai. Back in the demon world it was Western Region against Southern.

Cloud's world, his whole planet, was divided into four Territories. Northern, getting the northern part of the planet and the coldest. Eastern, getting the eastern part of the planet and the most peaceful. Western, getting the western part of the planet, Cloud's home, and having the best crops. And finally, Southern, getting the southern part of the planet and being the most dark and senile.

It sent shivers down Cloud's spine when he thought about it. He was the leader, the king, and the most powerful being of all of Western Region. He ruled one forth of the whole planet. It was almost implausible.

Cloud shook off his thoughts and quickly turned towards the ShinRa building. He had memorized the lay out of the building, so he knew exactly which floor Sephiroth's office was on.

The blonde zoomed over to the office window and creaked it open. He had made sure to unlock it while he had been in there earlier. Much easier access. He walked in calmly, grinning a grin that would put Zack and Qliphoth to shame.

He dug into one of his pockets and pulled out his "equipment". The fox boy marched over to the general's bookcase and stuck in a few magazines into it. Porn magazines to be correct. The blonde snickered and walked over to the man's desk. He looked at the paper work on his desk and pulled out a sharpie. His grin widened as he doodled random pictures on the paperwork. Wait till the general turns these in!

The next thing he did was open up the drawers, looking for the one that would most likely be opened the most. He found the one with the pencils, pens, and blank papers in it to be a good idea. He pulled out a small box, opened it, and dumped its contents into it.

_Hope Sephy likes cockroaches,_ Cloud mused happily, shutting the drawer.

The next few minutes went on with the fox demon setting up a few more pranks. He was finally done, when he turned back to leave and he saw an object of the heavens. Every prankster's love.

Sephiroth's computer.

_~Two Days Later~_

The general was back from his mission, apparently, and Cloud was nearly jumping off the walls in excitement. He couldn't wait to put his plan into action!

He was sitting and eating lunch at the moment, Zack yapping across the table from him. The ravenette shoveled his meal into his mouth as he spoke, some of the food spitting onto Cloud's cheek.

The blonde wiped the food off his cheek with disgust and glared at his friend.

"Say it, don't spray it!" he growled to the violet-eyed man, who just smiled in apology. But, Zack just continued to talk, and talk, and talk a few seconds after. The blonde groaned and continued to eat his lunch, only half listening to Zack blabber.

"YO! TACO!" Cloud froze at the call and turned his gaze to his left where a familiar girl was walking up to him, grin on her face.

_Damn it, Qliphoth, what the hell are you doing?_ Cloud panicked slightly. The silverette was wearing her hat and sunglasses so no one could really tell what she looked like, but everyone knew that was the cook. What would people think when they saw the cook coming up to the cadet?

Qliphoth finally stood at the edge of the table, right next to both Cloud and Zack. The ravenette was eyeing her like she was crazy and with innocent lust. Qliphoth HAD to wear those tight, figure-showing clothes didn't she?

"You know the cook, Spiky?" Zack questioned his friend, turning to him for a second.

"Y-yeah! I bumped into her a while back and she recognized me! Turns out she's an old friend from Nibelheim!" Cloud made up the excuse quickly, his voice quiet.

"Why'd she call ya Taco?" The violet-eyed man arched an eyebrow.

"It's his nickname, a' course!!" Qliphoth exclaimed quite loudly, throwing her hands into the air happily. Suddenly, the silverette wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and rubbed her cheek against his playfully. "ISN'T IT JUST THE CUTEST NICKNAME FOR THE CUTEST LITTLE BLONDIE!!! ISN'T IT? ISN'T IT?" she squealed, nearly bursting the fox demon's eardrums.

"I hate you right now. You know that, right?" Cloud growled blankly to Qliphoth as she finally stepped away from him.

"YEAH! I KNOW!" she grinned and the blonde king slammed his head against the table. Zack was laughing incredibly hard at the sight, enjoying every moment of it.

"THIS IS BETTER THEN CABLE!!" he wheezed through his laughter. Cloud just groaned and turned his head towards his "friend".

"What do you need, anyway?" Cloud questioned her, but she glared at him.

"Don't be rude! Introduce me to your friend!!" Qliphoth motioned towards Zack.

"I'm SOLDIER First Class, Lieutenant Zack Fair!" the ravenette grinned, stretching out his hand to shake the cook's. Bad idea…

Qliphoth snatched his hand and shook it very, very violently, a grin always on her face. "I'M QLIPHOTH!! I'M CLOUD'S FRIEND, as you know, AND YOU CAN CALL ME QLIPH!!!" she finally let go of the Lieutenant's hand, who was chuckling and slowly turning his arm in circles. He'd be sore later.

"Ok! Introductions are out of the way now! So Qli—" Cloud was interrupted.

"And who are you?" both Zack and Qliphoth said at the exact same time. They both started to laugh as their blonde friend glared at them.

"You two are children," Cloud grumbled to himself. "Look, Qliph, what do you need?" he turned back to his old friend, waiting for a reply.

"Sheesh! I can't just come by and say hello?" Qliphoth groaned, pouting slightly. Cloud was silent, watching her blankly, waiting for the real answer. "OK! OK! BAH! Stop with the staring thing! It's creepy! I came by to offer you my cupcake!" the silverette held out a chocolate cupcake that Cloud hadn't noticed she'd been holding. When someone is squealing and hugging you so tight you can't breath, you normally don't really notice if they're holding a pastry.

"Ok, who gave you sweets?" the blonde king asked blankly, poking at his lunch.

"It's the boss's b-day and she gave me a cupcake!!" Qliphoth grinned happily.

"Why don't you want it? I thought you loved chocolate," it was true. Qliphoth, if known not for her hyperness, would be known for her inhuman addiction to chocolate.

"I made a bet with this Turk I met a couple days ago that I wouldn't eat chocolate for a whole week!!" the cat-eyed woman grinned happily.

"How's it going?" Zack piped in, interested with this little bet. Why was Cloud not surprised?

"I'm going through coco withdrawal! But, I'll get over it soon!" Qliphoth did a quick thumbs up and handed the cupcake to her king. Cloud took the cupcake, split it in half, and handed one half to Zack, who took it quickly and devoured it in a heart beat.

"YOU ATE THAT IN THREE SECONDS!!!" Qliphoth exclaimed, eyes wide, jaw open. Cloud chuckled slightly.

"He beat your record by one second!" he smirked at the silverette, who was still gawking at the black-haired man.

"Eh, I'm just THAT awesome!" Zack shrugged nonchalantly, but smiled nonetheless. Qliphoth smiled as well and turned to Cloud.

"Why can't you smile a bit more?" the silverette whined loudly, drawing out the question. Cloud just shrugged, and continued to eat, not in the mood for any more antics from her. From himself, though, was a totally different thing. All he needed now was to figure out when Sephiroth was actually IN the office!

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Fair, sir?" a SOLDIER Third Class came up to the table.

"That's my name! Don't wear it out!" Zack grinned, turning to the speaker. Qliphoth giggled under her breath. Cloud sighed. Could either of these two take anything seriously or professionally?

"Yes, well, General Sephiroth would like to speak with you in his office, sir," the SOLDIER saluted quickly, and left when Zack nodded for him to go.

"Well, I must bid you adue! I must be off!" the ravenette stood from his seat, picking up his tray and smiling at the blonde and silverette.

"Duty calls!" Qliphoth smiled back happily.

"And all that jazz!" Zack laughed as he left the dining hall, throwing away his tray on his way out. When he was gone, Qliphoth took a seat next to her good friend.

"So, you gonna put your plan in action now that you know Sephy's in there?" she questioned, knowing all of Cloud's pranks that he had set up. The blonde shook his head a bit.

"I'll wait a few seconds, but yes, I'm about to," the answer made the green-eyed woman grin widely. "Hey, shouldn't you be making sure dinner isn't burning?" the fox demon arched a suspicious eyebrow when the silverette shook her head wildly.

"NOPE!! Dinner's salad!" Qliphoth patted Cloud's back and began to sing, quite loudly, "NO WORRIES! ABOUT A T'ING! CAUSE EVERY LITTLE T'ING, IS GONNA BE A'RIGHT!" the demon king bopped her in the back of the head to quiet her. She rubbed her tender head, pouting, and sending a glare at her mission buddy every now and again. "Where's the jump drive?" the silverette finally spoke after a few seconds of Cloud eating.

The blonde cadet pulled out a black jump drive from his pocket and waved it back and forth. It held every little file and detail that was in Sephiroth's computer. Using the handy dandy summoning book, Cloud had summoned a new laptop for himself and loaded the data into it so that he would have special access to it. It wouldn't all fit on the one he already possessed. There was too much on that one. And, with the prank he had planned, he planned on putting the data holder back into the general's office so that he didn't lose anything important.

Come on! He was a kitsune! A master of pranks! Not a serpent! A master of torture!

Cloud finished his lunch quickly and smirked. Time for the prank!

"Is it time?" Qliphoth read the emotion on her friend's face.

"Oh, it's time!" Cloud nodded, the smirk turning foxier by the second, eyes glinting mischievously. He dug into his pocket again, leaving the jump drive there, and pulled out a small remote. It had only one red button on it.

Qliphoth looked at it like she was a lion and it was her prey. "Can I?" she whispered, sparing Cloud a pleaful glance.

"Be my guest!" the blonde grinned and the silverette quickly pressed her finger onto the button.

The building shook.

Cloud put the remote back into his pocket as everyone in the room froze, silence falling, and looked around wide-eyed. The cadet and cook mirrored their expressions, secretly laughing their asses off in their heads.

Murmurs of "what was that?" and "what happened?" could be heard as a few of the higher ranking SOLDIERs started to move out of the room. Everyone was quieted as Zack reentered, though. He was covered in what appeared to be soot. His eyes were wide with surprise and shock.

"I-it's ok, everyone! We're all good!" he reassured the men, grinning shakily. Some people voiced their worries for his health, but he just waved them off and wobbled back over to his seat across from Cloud.

He sat there, stark still, and stared at the table. Qliphoth and Cloud exchanged a look then turned back to their black-haired friend.

"Are you ok, sir?" the blonde questioned slowly. Zack looked up at him.

"Tell me, Spiky," the ravenette took in a deep breath. "Is it natural for computers to explode?" By the look on Zack's face, he was genuinely asking a real, serious question. Over to the side, Qliphoth hid a bright grin.

"I don't think so, sir!" Cloud paused a second, gathering himself before he could start laughing. "Why?"

"Uh, well, I'm not really sure, but I think Seph's computer just blew up," Zack stared at the table blankly, not really knowing what to say.

Both Cloud and Qliphoth did a little victory dance in their head.

The prank worked!!

Mental high five!

"What do you mean, 'you're not really sure'?" the silverette questioned, hidden laughter noticed by her blonde companion.

"Uh," Zack looked like he was thinking for a second, "I THINK I got hit in the head with the mouse as it flew through the air." Qliphoth covered her mouth from the on coming burst of laughter and Cloud cleared his throat to cover his.

"That," the blonde cleared his throat again as his voice cracked slightly, "That really sucks!"

The Lieutenant nodded his head slowly. "It really does! I mean, it was out of nowhere! And, oh man, Sephy's mad! He went storming out to look for the security tapes. The guy that did that is a dead man walking!"

The demon king smirked on the inside of his mind. He doubted the general would ever find him out. No one had ever been able to catch him in the act. Though some people just had the feeling it had been him on certain pranks, they could never get proof. And, if he looked at the tapes for any other room during the time of the explosion, he would not see Qliphoth and him press the button. He knew where every security camera was in this place and he knew where he could hold the remote so it would be hidden.

"God, I'm hungry!" Zack suddenly spoke up, at some point in Cloud's musing he had rested his chin on the table. The blonde wasn't really surprised. For some reason, he, Kiva, and a good amount of demon's he knew got hungry after recovering from surprise or shock.

"Go get some more food then!" Qliphoth said like it was the easiest thing in the world. Well, it kind of was. Just stand up and get in line.

"I'm not allowed to get seconds since I was a cadet," the Lieutenant said sadly. Cloud's thought's wandered a bit. One thing he was thinking about was how hard it was to picture Zack as a cadet. Though his personality was much like a fourteen-year-old's, he still was a First Class SOLDIER and it was hard to picture.

The other thought was why on earth was Zack not allowed to have seconds? He was the Lieutenant and had very difficult missions that required energy, which required food. If he needed it, the ravenette should be allowed to get as much food as he needed.

"Why, might I ask?" Cloud said slowly, arching his eyebrow. His black-haired friend didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned and stared off into space, probably reminiscing in old times.

_~Zack's Flashback~_

_A fifteen-year-old Zack Fair stared out the cafateria windows in shock as all the lights and power in Midgar shut off._

_He turned to a twitching Angeal._

"_Sorry."_

_~End Flashback~_

"We were without power for three hours," Zack murmured to himself. Cloud and Qliphoth exchanged a confused look, and shrugged. Never even TRY to understand the mystery that was Zack. Or Qliphoth. Don't try to understand that one either.

"Yeah, well, anyway," Qliphoth mumbled and shook her head violently. She grinned at Zack and nodded to herself. "How 'bout I sneak you out some food?"

The violet-eyed man turned his head towards and the green-eyed woman with shimmering eyes. "I'll be your best friend!" Qliphoth just nodded to his answer, stood, and walked for the kitchen. Zack watched her go then turned back towards the cadet in front of him.

"She's like an angel sent down from the heavens!" the ravenette whispered wistfully. Cloud just rolled his eyes.

_More like a demon sent from hell,_ he thought grumpily, remembering the little prank the cat-eyed girl had played on him four days ago involving his morning coffee and a very large spider.

The rest of lunch consisted of Zack garfing down the food Qliphoth brought out, the silverette and ravenette talking like there was no tomorrow, Cloud zoning out many times, and Zack and Qliphoth fake crying when Cloud had to leave for classes. The blonde was finally able to shake his two friends off his ankles (literally) and head for classes. He was honestly excited about the lesson that day.

Survival.

This was great!

He loved the subject of survival!

Cloud walked casually into the classroom and looked around. There was a different group of cadets in his class lessons then there was in his physical lessons.

NO BRIAN! YAY! Cloud would always cheer inside his head, but a small pain would come forward. Brian, realizing that bad things would happen when he attacked Cloud because of the invisible warriors (that name had actually stuck, surprisingly), he tried more mental beatings. The blonde would of suspected the idiot to not think up anything devastating, which he hadn't, he had to give his props to what the brunette had done so far.

Though his plans were very simple and honestly expected when it came to psychological warfare in schools, Cloud hadn't thought Brian could think it all up.

First plan: make the blonde, newbie loser as lonely as possible.

Brian had somehow gotten Carmille to become one of the Brian clones. Cloud had no idea how the bully had done it, but he'd done it. Now, the closest person he had to a friend in that class was gone. And anyone that started to get close to the blonde king was either taken away or beaten until they would stay away from him.

Second plan: spread rumors.

This one irked Cloud greatly. Now, the whole of the cadet class in that training room believed he slept with a stuffed animal and had cried like a baby when he had come from Nibelheim to SOLDIER. The blonde vowed he'd get the brunette back, too. He couldn't just leave it to pranking Sephiroth! The brunette idiot would most definitely pay.

Third plan: mess Cloud up when training.

They mainly just yelled at the blonde when he was doing a running course or when he was sparring. This never really worked. Cloud could easily tune them out. He didn't mind if people knew he was good at concentrating. That was fine. He just wanted to make them think he was a weakling in the strength department.

So, Cloud's first classes of the day were pretty much a living hell. Well, they would be if he were a desperate teen boy, just wanting to do the best he could do and become. But, he wasn't, but he was supposed to seem like it. There were so many times that the blonde wanted to either bash the Brian clone's heads in, role his eyes in annoyance and just retort with a better insult, or strangle them, but he had to look hurt, ignore them, or look like he was gonna cry.

It all still disgusted him to no degree.

Cloud took his seat next to a boy with black hair and a green, spiky Mohawk. His name was Napoleon. To the fox king's surprise, this seemingly tough, punk, bully acted a lot like Zalu. Intelligent, kind, sweet, patient, top of the class, perfectionist, a bit of a spaz (Cloud hoped Zalu would never read this story), and great with kids.

HA!

TAKE THAT STEREOTYPING!

Cloud hated stereotyping.

The blonde and the seemingly punk teen had become friends in a short time.

"So, what is up with you?" Nap asked when his friend took a seat. Nap was his nickname, seeing as his name was too long to say sometimes. And he hated being called Napoleon. Another thing that reminded the blonde of his blue haired friend.

"Not much. Two of my friends were being total idiots today at lunch, though," Cloud mumbled, reaching into his pocket lazily and pulling out a small travel sized book. It was called "The Shapeshifter: Finding the Fox" by Ali Sparkes (1). It had been a gift from Qliphoth on his job well done for setting up the pranks, and he had yet to start it.

"Did it have anything to do with Lieutenant Fair?" Nap asked knowingly. Cloud had vented many times on how annoying Zack could be, but he also spoke of how kind he was and how loyal a friend he was. It's just that Zack being annoying seemed to be a big topic for Nap and Cloud's conversations.

"He and another one of my many annoying friends," the fox demon grumbled, opening his book and beginning to read.

"HEY!" Nap exclaimed, holding a mock hurt expression on his face.

"Sorry! You're one of the slightly less annoying friends," Cloud grinned at his friend then turned back to his book.

"I will take it!" Nap said with finality and turned to the textbook on his desk. Another thing that Cloud realized was similar between Nap and Zalu was the fact neither of them ever, EVER used contractions. It was kind of weird. The one time the demon king had actually heard Zalu use a contraction was when they weren't even in the warrior program and she was totally pissed at Kiva. The red phoenix had ended up with three broken ribs, a broken arm, and a broken leg. When the redhead was released from the hospital he stayed at Cloud's house for a week or so, not wanting anything to do with his sister.

The blonde, to this day, still had no idea what they had fought over, but he did end up noticing that they never talked about some human male actor named Robert Pattinson, or something.

That's when it happened. That's when Cloud's day went totally down hill. The SOLDIER First Class that taught the lessons most of the time walked in. No, that's not the bad thing. Cloud actually liked Mr. Montrelize. No, it was what he said that made Cloud want to scream and tear his hair out.

"Class, due to certain events, the general has informed that all classes of will be having changes in schedule. This class will no longer be learning of survival today," insert class groan, "they'll be experiencing it."

**~Authors Note~**

Ok, so here's chapter five! I'm pretty sure it's the longest, but I'm not sure.

This is mainly a comic relief chapter. Brian's gonna get it in the next chapter, trust me!

So, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why survival training instead of learning is so bad. Well, it will be spoken of in the next chapter, but it's because Cloud isn't ready. He doesn't know how he should act. And, if it's SURVIVAL training then he knows there will be monsters and bad things.

Ok, well, thanks for reading! Please review! And the poles are changed a little.

**~POLL~**

1. If Zack were a demon, which would he be? (I'm not saying he's going to be a demon. It might just be like someone's saying he'd be good as that one)

-Werewolf (tell me what color)

-Elemental Wolf (which element?)

-Cerberus

2. Should Qliphoth meet Sephiroth soon?

-Yes (how soon?) (how should Sephy react?)

-No

**~Pointers~**

(1) that is a real book, actually! I really, really, REALLY want to get it and read it, but I haven't yet... :'(


	7. Chapter 6: Surprises

Chapter Six:

Cloud slowly stepped out of the large truck and looked around. He and the rest of his class were in the middle of a forest. A big, giant tree, forest!

_Gaia, kill me now,_ Cloud thought miserably as he stood there, waiting for Mr. Montrelize to announce what was going to happen in this drill.

This was very bad. The fox demon had no idea what he should do. He hadn't planned this part out at all. He didn't have any equipment or anything. His summoning book was back in his room. And, he had no idea how a storybook and a cell phone could help. He could call his demon friends to come and help him, but how the hell was he supposed to explain them? The blonde king was at a loss.

"You will be left out here for the rest of the day," Mr. Montrelize's voice called out. The blonde looked around but didn't see him anywhere. "You will sleep out here for the night and we will come and pick you up some time tomorrow."

Cloud finally spotted his SOLDIER teacher. He was sitting calmly inside the large truck that had brought him and his group here.

"Good luck!" he called and the truck was gone.

Cloud's eyes widened. Just like that? They were just going to send them out like that? Without giving them anything or giving a helpful speech? This was ridiculous! He understood if they did this to a group that had already gone through this kind of training, but this was their first time! Well, at least for most of them. And the group hadn't even had survival lessons yet! How were they supposed to know what to do?

Well, Cloud knew what to do, but that was only because he had experience already and the proper training. Not once had he been thrown into a situation without being properly trained in that field.

The group of cadets began to panic, Cloud could feel it in the air. They had no idea what to do. Not one! The blonde clenched his fists and teeth and glared at where the truck had disappeared. An idea sprouted.

The fox demon strolled over to a tree stump. It appeared like the tree had died and most likely fell over in a storm. The top was covered in spikes, but they weren't very big, so it would have to do.

Cloud hopped up onto the tree stump, positioning his feet between the broken spikes so he'd be safe. He stuck his two index fingers into the sides of his mouth and whistled.

The screech of the whistle echoed through the clearing they were all in. Everyone turned towards the blonde cadet with curious and panicked eyes.

"I've got an idea!" Cloud called. "Have any of you had any survival training?" no one answered. Well, shit. The blonde had hoped he wouldn't be alone on this, but he'd have to manage. "Well, I have and I know what we need to do!" The group before him exchanged a few worried looks.

"Why should we believe you? You're the newbie! Where would you have learned any of this stuff?" someone called out. Cloud had seen that question coming. Someone would always question the power of the higher ups.

"I grew up in Nibelheim. There are a lot of forests and monsters around there and it was important for us to learn at a young age how to survive," Cloud explained, praying no one was from Nibelheim in this group. It was true about the forests and monsters, Cloud had made sure to ask Tifa about the city, but the training thing was just made up on the spot.

Luckily, no one was from Nibelheim so Cloud was in the go. The group seemed to calm down slowly, most of them nodding at the blonde in acceptance.

"So, what the fuck do we do?" said one of the people who had brown hair over his eyes. His name was Jeremiah. He was a big cuss-er. He would cuss in every single sentence he said, it seemed.

"Well, if you are in a situation of survival, then the first thing you wanna look for is other people or a civilization!" Cloud explained. It was true. The first you did was NOT looking for a campsite. No, that you did when evening was drawing closer so you could sleep well. And, it should only be temporary, unless you don't intend on going that far. Then it should last for a while.

"Well, where are we supposed to look first?" Nap's voice called from the group. Cloud grinned and turned to where the truck had left.

"We will follow the tracks!" but instead of turning and going where the truck had left, he turned and started walking in the way it came. "It's very easy for them to switch out to a different truck and lead us on a wild goose chase so we'll never find civilization quickly if we go the way they left," Cloud turned to the group slowly, "but we know for a fact that these tracks lead straight back to Midgar and Shinra because we never got into a different truck."

There was a chorus of sounds of agreements from the group and they started to follow Cloud as he walked in the way they had all came from.

_~At ShinRa Building~_

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Qliphoth hummed to Zack as she stirred inside a pot. She was currently making a sauce for the salad if anyone wanted to use it.

Zack, now knowing that the sunglasses wearing girl worked in the kitchen and believing her to be a friend of his now had taken it upon himself to pay her a visit while she worked on finishing dinner. The serving lady, Qliphoth's cooking boss, didn't mind the visit, seeing as she already got visits from a certain blonde cadet.

"Hey, Sephy said that the culprit would pay!" Zack shrugged nonchalantly, not really knowing what else to say.

Cloud had left about three hours ago for his classes and the Lieutenant guessed he was already on his way to some forest, or something.

"Then he should punish the culprit, not the whole SOLDIER program!" Qliphoth retorted angrily, glaring down at the sauce. Zack still had no idea what this girl's eyes and hair looked like. Not once had he or anyone other then Cloud seen her true looks ever since she joined.

"That's the thing. Apparently he can't figure out who it was! The cameras to his office are busted some how! They won't show anything!" Zack replied instantly. It irked him, actually, and not much irked the ravenette. Someone had been able to sneak into Sephiroth's office, heck maybe into this building, and shut off the cameras without being seen then pranked the general to such a degree it was amazing.

The "culprit" had done a lot more then just make the computer explode!

There had been cockroaches in Sephiroth's desk drawers. There had been porno in his bookcase. There had been doodles on the paper work. There had been a fake, human skull hidden in the corner. There had been piles of rats in the broom closet.

Zack was curious beyond words on what had happened.

"What if it had been a Turk? Then he's punishing the wrong people!" Qliphoth replied slowly, setting her spoon down and walking over to sit next to her new friend on the counter.

"Well, then, that would really suck," Zack said blankly, not even pausing between questions. "He doesn't have as much power in the Turk department so he can't really punish them."

"Hrm," the cook hummed in thought, looking at the floor. "What's Taco's new schedule for today?"

"Well, they WERE going to be having survival lessons," Zack thought out loud.

"Knew that," Qliphoth mumbled, snatching up a juice pouch and started to slurp out of the straw.

"So, now, I think they're actually going to be experiencing it!" raspberry juice was sprayed out of the cook's mouth and she flung her gaze to Zack.

"WHAT?!!!" she screeched catching the ravenette by surprise. Zack looked at her with wide, surprised eyes.

"W-what? What did I say?" the Lieutenant stuttered, not really knowing how he should act. He had no idea what the problem was.

"How the hell are they supposed to survive?" Qliphoth exclaimed into Zack's ear angrily. Her teeth were clenched and her fists were ready to knock her new friend into the next room.

"By using survival, of course! That's the point!" the violet-eyed man replied slowly, still not sure how to handle this. The cook had gotten up off the counter and was now standing right in front of Zack's path of escape.

She placed her fists on her hips defiantly and growled. "And where, might I ask, would they have gotten survival training?" her voice was low and dangerous, warning Zack that if he tried anything, death would come.

The ravenette thought about it a moment, his eyes widened, and he smacked his forehead with his palm. They didn't know ANYTHING about survival! So, how the hell were they supposed to know how to actually survive?

The next thing he knew, Zack was running down the halls in search of Mr. Montrelize.

_~With Qliphoth~_

The silver-haired woman grumbled in disappointment. Honestly. How were these people supposed to make great SOLDIERs if they couldn't even teach them properly? Back in the demon world they would make sure that everyone was fully informed of the basics of a certain subject before actually making them experience it first hand.

Qliphoth's mind wandered, then, thinking of her time in the demon world. It made her stomach clench slightly in sadness. She thought it was homesickness at first, but she realized the pain was something she was familiar of.

That wasn't her home. Not truly. Her blonde haired friend had welcomed her into Western Region with open arms, a rare occasion says Zeek, and helped her become a West citizen. She wasn't born in Western Region. She wasn't even born in the demon's dimension!

She was from here. This world.

It hurt her that she would never have the true connection with her demon friends that they had with each other because of were they were born.

And, in all honesty, the cat-eyed woman felt even more left out when she realized that her group of friends would never be able to connect with her the same they would a demon.

She doubted she was even human!

Qliphoth slammed her fist into the wall, leaving a small imprint of her knuckles, and she thanked the Lord that her temporary boss was out at the moment. She could show her pain and anger without any witnesses.

Her long sleeve had been shook backwards with the impact of her punch, and went up her arm. A tattoo, looking more like it had been branded into Qliphoth's very flesh, of a barcode was shown slightly with the number 536 underneath it.

The silverette's eyes glowed bright green, the slits dangerously thin as she pulled her sleeve back down.

"Damn you, Hojo," she growled to herself, heading for the exit door. "Damn you to hell."

_~Back With Zack~_

This was bad! This was very bad!

And, by the look on Montrelize's foce, he agreed with the Lieutenant.

Zack had reached the SOLDIER about a whole hour after he had gotten back from dropping the group of cadets off. Neither of them had realized the situation soon enough. And now, they rushed towards the hangers to get a truck and go searching for the trainees.

_And we call ourselves SOLDIER,_ Zack thought sourly. It was a surprise, really, for most people when they saw the two SOLDIER go past them as they ran down the halls. Not the fact of who they where, for most of them knew that Zack and Montrelize had been friends in their early SOLDIER days, but it was the fact of the emotions they were putting off.

Zack, the usually happy, loud, and always smiling Lieutenant that got on everyone's nerves, was totally serious looking, no smile present, and eyebrows scrunched together in worry and slight anger.

Montrelize, who was normally calm and well controlled, was frantic and nearly hyperventilating.

The both of them had a soft spot for kids, and that somehow got transferred to a soft spot for cadets and newbies. They were both terrified that this huge group of cadets would get hurt. Though a few scratches and minor injuries would be fine, seeing as they did need experience, major injuries were still an unwanted possibility.

_THE HANGER!!!_ Zack screamed in his head happily, not being able to voice his joy seeing as his voice was gone. It was a rare phenomenon.

Montrelize fumbled with his security card, seeing as Zack, being a bit on the irresponsible side, had forgotten his. The SOLDIER First finally slid the card through the slot and let his higher up run in before him. He didn't have much choice. When worried, Zack could put a sonic jet to shame.

They both hurried over to where the trucks should be located only to freeze in total shock at what they saw.

A group of cadets were sitting around on the ground, in one place actually playing poker. And, with further analysis, the two SOLDIERs realized they were THEIR cadets.

Even through their was great relief at seeing the group, Montrelize and Zack could still not move from their shock of seeing them there. Shouldn't they be out in the wild?

"OH! Hey, Lieutenant, sir!" a friendly call sounded and the two turned to see a blue-eyed blonde trotting towards them cheerfully.

"C-cloud?" Zack finally stuttered, still not knowing how to react.

"Hey!" Cloud waved to his friend slightly, coming to a stop before his two higher ups.

"W-w-why are you…?" Montrelize stuttered this time, having no idea how to finish his question.

Cloud blinked at his teacher blankly for a second, not getting what he was asking. He even cocked his head to the side in a way that reminded Zack greatly of a dog or fox. The blonde glanced back at his group, then understood and turned back to his friend and his teacher.

"Oh! Well, none of us have a security pass so we were stuck here until someone else came in and let us out! Luckily, Miles," Cloud motioned to a dirty blonde who waved slightly and went back to his poker game, "brought cards, so we weren't TOTALLY bored!"

There was power and mock in just the way Zack's friend spoke. It was almost disturbing. Was his friend mocking them for being able to get back, out of the forest so quickly? Speaking of which, HOW could they of gotten back SO FAST? It puzzled the Lieutenant to no end.

"H-how?" Zack managed, his voice coming back slowly. Not once, but twice in the same day, Zackary Fair was speechless.

_Oh My Gaia, it's a sign of the apocalypse!_ A tiny, humorous voice called inside his head.

Instead of answering Zack's question straight off, he turned to his teacher and said, the mocking smile still in his voice, "Might I suggest not driving in such mud and dirt? It's very simple to follow the tracks back." Montrelize was stiff by then. What was up with the way Cloud was talking? Zack already knew the kid to have more maturity then most of the cadets, but he was showing signs of superiority.

"Ok," Zack mumbled slowly, understanding HOW they found their way back, but still not getting how they did it so fast. "How so fast?" was the ravenette's simple question.

Cloud simply shrugged as if saying it was no big deal. "We found a wild herd of chocobo. Rode em back!" the blonde said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. One of the other cadets spoke up then, apparently listening in on the whole conversation.

"Yeah! It was cool! Cloud said these weird things to their 'Alpha' and got them to let us ride them here!" the other cadet had black hair and a green, spiky mohawk.

"I must really be part chocobo!" Cloud laughed. It was so rare! To here the cadet laugh. Maybe snigger or chuckle, sometimes giggle, but in all honesty the Lieutenant had never, ever heard his new friend actually laugh. He had come close, but never gotten to it.

"R-right," Zack whispered, turning on his heels stiffly and motioning for Cloud and the rest of the cadets to follow. Montrelize herded them in the direction of the exit, but he looked more like a zombie then anything, his face totally pale. A question was buzzing through both of their minds.

_Where were the chocobos then?_

_~With Qliphoth~_

Qliphoth hummed lightly as she walked, almost skipped, down the halls towards the dining hall, dinner almost there. She had been able to cool off from her sudden surge of anger with a bit of sword practice outside. No one was out then, luckily, but for a second, the silverette thought she saw a black chocobo behind a building off to the side. It was definitely weird.

_Hmmmm, I coulda caught it and made lunch for tomorrow,_ she thought cruelly, yet humorously. Of course she'd never hurt a chocobo. Especially now! Cloud's hair looked WAY too much like a chocobo's for the cat-eyed woman's liking.

Qliphoth's mind wandered, as it normally did when she was alone, namely to what would be for lunch tomorrow. Breakfast was going to be bacon and eggs, she had decided, but lunch and dinner were yet to be chosen.

_Something meaty and bloody. Something I can cut,_ the silverette thought, a deadly chuckle sounding from her throat. She always got a bit scary after training/venting. But, this was a bit much, she realized. She was never as crazy to actually chuckle evilly. She might chuckle when she was fighting, but never when she was simply just walking about and thinking.

Something was up! She could just feel it.

As she neared the dining hall, a smell hit her nostrils. Qliphoth couldn't put a name to it, but it seemed familiar. And, for some reason, it made the silverette's skin tingle in anticipation. Almost like she needed something. But, what?

The cat-eyed woman opened the doors to her destination, and froze. The smell was strong. Very, very strong. And very, very familiar.

"Blood," Qliphoth whispered. No one was in the room, so she was thankful for no suspicious glances, but that was also what worried her. Where was her boss? She was normally out, tiding up a bit before the dinner rush.

The silverette stumbled towards the small hall that led to the kitchen. The smell got stronger, and before she knew it, Qliphoth fell to her knees, vomiting her heart out. Why? She was used to blood. Why was this so strong and unbearable? Had this world made her weak?

Qliphoth crawled back onto her feet, legs wobbling greatly in her effort. Why? She kept asking herself. She stepped over her vile and continued towards the hall.

As soon as she turned the corner, Qliphoth found herself falling at the ground, having tripped over something. The silverette groaned angrily, cursing her clumsiness, then turned to what she tripped over, quickly wishing she hadn't.

Two wide, green eyes stared at her, totally hazed over, a bullet hole in between them.

Qliphoth couldn't make a sound, the sight shocking her silent, and she scrambled backwards, not being able to pull her gaze away from the dead cadet in front of her. Her hand grazed over something soft and fabric.

A glove?

The silverette slowly turned back and her eyes widened further. A SOLDIER laid there, eyes shut, red-ish brown hair splayed out behind him, bullet holes in his left shoulder and chest.

The green-eyed woman scrambled to her feet, having no clue how she could even stand, and ran for the kitchen. The door swung open for her, and she froze, nearly slipping on one of the many pools of blood that covered her temporary work station.

And, with all the energy she could muster, the silver-haired woman screamed at the sight of her cooking boss in millions of shredded pieces around her.

**~POLL~**

1. If Zack were a demon, which would he be? (I'm not saying he's going to be a demon. It might just be like someone's saying he'd be good as that one)

-Werewolf (tell me what color)

-Elemental Wolf (which element?)_-2 votes-_

-Cerberus_-1 vote-_

2. Should Qliphoth meet Sephiroth _soon?_

-Yes (how soon?) (how should Sephy react?)

-No_-1 vote-_


	8. Chapter 7: Demons

Chapter Seven:

No one ate dinner that evening. Not one person. No one even went out to buy dinner. Cloud wasn't surprised.

Qliphoth, with a pale, purple blanket wrapped around herself, leaned against her blonde king's shoulder, dried tears running down her cheeks.

It wasn't right. Qliphoth had always been strong. She had killed people much more gruesomely then what she had seen. Cloud had seen her do it! She had seen friends of hers, much closer then her cooking boss, die slowly in lava, their screams ever present in her mind, and she never broke down like this.

Of course she had every right to cry when she saw a death, but she never had. That's what surprised Cloud most when he and Zack came rushing to the dining hall after being given such terrible news. Qliphoth had been shaking with fear. She hadn't done that in years. Her eyes were red from her crying. She hadn't cried at a death in so long.

There were a few theories Cloud had been able to think up to her sudden fear. One was that she was acting for the mission. But, it seemed much too real. Even for her.

Another was that all the deaths she had seen, and not even flinched at, had finally caught up to her and she just couldn't hold it back. That one seemed like it would work quite well.

Another thought was that there might have been Amchua poison in the air. The poison did not kill, but made whoever breathed it more emotional. Some people called it the Hormone Poison. But, that idea was thrown out the window, seeing as the fox demon had not smelled any trace of said poison in the kitchen, and it took 24 hours for it to dissipate.

So, what was it?

Qliphoth sniffed slightly next to Cloud, and he put his arm around her shoulder. He didn't know how to deal with this. He did know how to help people if they went through something terrible like this, but he had learned that every different person needed a different kind of reassuring. Qliphoth was someone who he didn't know how to reassure. He guessed it would be along the lines of silence. Just helping her with a pat and just by being there. Cloud hoped he was right.

Zack walked over to the two of them and took a seat on the other side of Qliphoth. She made no move to acknowledge him and the Lieutenant gave a worried glance to her.

"The cadet died," he whispered. The blonde nodded, knowing that already. If any human could live through a bullet in the brain, it would be a miracle. "The SOLDIER, though, lived. Whoever shot them missed their heart. But, he is gonna need surgery to get the bullet out of his lung." Qliphoth whimpered slightly, curling further into a ball, relying on Cloud to make sure she didn't fall over.

"Who would of done this?" the demon king mumbled, half to himself. He guessed it wasn't someone from this world. Who from this world would want to murder the serving lady then shoot a SOLDIER and a cadet? He'd understand the SOLDIER and cadet part, but why Qliphoth's boss? And why was it that her boss was so badly killed.

It brought Cloud back, in a bad way, when he peaked in the kitchen and the first thing he saw was a gouged out eye stuck to the wall.

Zack shook his head slowly, not knowing how to answer. "I don't know, Spiky, but we might want to bring Qliph to the infirmary." Qliphoth quickly shook her head and it surprised the blonde that her hat and sunglasses were somehow still in place.

"No," she croaked, the first thing she had said since Zack and Cloud had gotten there. "I don't need a doctor." Cloud sighed at her stubbornness. She always had a terrible hatred for doctors, but this was serious. She couldn't just stay here.

"At least let us bring you back to your room," Cloud whispered, not wanting to speak in full volume to her. He knew one thing that was the same for most people that needed reassuring after a traumatizing experience. You had to stay calm and soft.

Qliphoth didn't answer at first, just sat there, leaning on Cloud's shoulder heavily, but she finally nodded her head in defeat. She needed rest, that was for certain.

Zack nodded and lifted his new friend up, fireman style. She didn't even move. She seemed more like a rag doll to the two males.

Cloud sighed sadly and walked in the direction of Qliphoth's room, Zack following close behind.

"Hey, Spiky, question," the Lieutenant drew the cadet's attention to him. Cloud made a noise that said he was listening and Zack continued. "How is it, exactly, that you know where Qliph's room is? Is there something you're not telling me?" the blonde's ears burned and he walked stiffly for a moment. Zack chuckled, but stopped with a small "Ow!"

Cloud turned back and saw Qliphoth's fist hovering over Zack's head. "That's not it, jerk," the silverette croaked. Cloud smiled. He was thankful to Zack. If they could get Qliphoth's mind off the problem then she would feel better for a while.

Cloud smiled warmly at his two friends and turned back in the way they were going. Within a few minutes, the trio entered the silverette's room and place her on her bed. The blanket was still wrapped around Qliphoth tightly, and she made no move to let it go.

"I better go see what they plan on doing," Zack whispered, started to head for the exit.

Cloud just nodded and let his friend leave. He sat down on the foot of the bed, about a foot away from Qliphoth's own feet. Silence hung around them, and the blonde thought that his friend had finally fallen into the world of slumber. He moved to get up, but a cold hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist. Cloud looked down and saw Qliphoth clutching on to him, making sure he didn't leave.

Cloud sat back down, but his cat-eyed friend did not let go. The blonde sighed and with his un-held hand took off her hat and glasses and placed them on the bedside table. He soon wished he hadn't.

Qliphoth's eyes were narrowed with such an intense anger that it looked like the wall she was glaring at would burst into flames at any moment. Her eyes showed blood lust, a need for vengance.

"I know who killed them," the silverette whispered, her voice still cracked, but filled with pure hatred. There was no more fear.

"You know?" Cloud asked, almost unable to believe it. When he had peaked inside the kitchen, he had made sure to sniff the air and see if he could pick up the scent of another being. The scent of blood was overwhelming and he nearly vomited on the spot. But, he had seen and smelled MUCH larger quantities of blood in his life. That was really nothing to him.

He was surprised with himself, actually, that he even had the sudden urge to throw up. Maybe Qliphoth's sudden fear and his queasy-ness all tied together.

Anyway, it also surprised him that he didn't smell one other person. He smelled the serving lady, the SOLDIER, and the cadet, but no one else. He didn't even smell gunpowder. But, there was one scent that got his attention. Something akin to oil.

"Yeah, isn't it obvious?" Qliphoth croaked, shutting her eyes tight, as if in sudden pain. She opened them again and stared straight at Cloud. Her green, slit eyes showed age, pain, rage, and total seriousness. Her joking self seemed to have died then.

"It was Expire."

_~With Zack~_

He just didn't understand it. Who would do such a thing? What was their purpose? Why so terribly? And why couldn't the freaking search dogs find any other scent?

Zack's mind raced. So much had happened in one day. So much indeed. Maybe the person that had pranked Sephiroth had done this! No, that made no since. Or, maybe it was a warning to them all. So, who had done it?

Zack grumbled to himself. There was something up about all of this.

_Well, no duh!_ A tiny voice growled to Zack in his head.

_No, no, no! I mean there's something way off about the murder,_ Zack thought back to the voice.

_Really? What's that?_ The voice asked, sounding bored.

_Well, it's that when I go near the murder scene I feel really vulnerable all of a sudden. Like, really weak. It's weird,_ Zack answered. It was true. When he went near it all of a sudden he just felt really weak. Like he was a new cadet again and just the sight of blood would make him faint.

_Yeah, that IS weird! Maybe it's some kind of curse! Maybe that's why those dumb dogs can't pick up a scent!_ Zack nodded slightly at the answer. That would make sense.

Zack froze. Wait a minute. Was he talking to himself? And, was he answering back?

_Helloooooo! Anyone home?_ The voice called. It sounded very similar to Zack's own voice, but different. Like, more gruff and tough. Zack gulped.

_Please tell me you're my conscience,_ Zack said inside his head. He prayed the voice wouldn't even answer.

_Uuuuuhhhh, what?_ The voice sounded confused.

_Look, if you are, I'm really sorry about eating those cookies that mom told me not to eat when I was nine!_ Zack thought quickly. _And, I'm sorry for getting in a fight with Michelle when I was a cadet!_

_Hey! He had it coming to him!!_ The voice replied to the last one. Zack was a bit baffled by the answer. Wasn't this his conscience? Shouldn't he be all goody-goody-two shoes?

_No way in hell would I ever act like that!_ The voice called and the ravenette jumped slightly. This was mega creepy.

_Then, who are you?_ One part of the Lieutenant didn't even want to know, the other was crying for the voice to tell him. _Are you God?_

_This is me rolling my eyes, _the voice said flatly. _No, moron, I'm you. Well, part of you, I guess._

_You guess? _Zack questioned slowly. So, this was part of himself, right?

Weird.

_Hey! It's weird for me too! It is seriously dark and empty inside your head!_ The voice growled. It didn't sound human at all.

"Hey!" Zack called, then covered his mouth when he got weird looks. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

_That was supposed to stay in a thought bubble,_ the violet-eyed man thought dumbly.

_Yuh-huh! Suuuuure,_ the voice said sarcastically.

_I'm starting to not like you,_ Zack groaned angrily.

_To bad! You're stuck with me!_ The voice laughed evilly, but humorously.

Zack sighed slightly. This voice was really, really annoying. _So, what are you?_

_I told you already! I'm part of you!_ The voice sighed, his voice lined with annoyance.

_But, which part?_ Zack questioned, starting to get irritated.

_I'm a part that used to not exist. Or, maybe it did and it was just dormant. Hmmmm. I need to look that up,_ the voice thought, more to itself.

_Ok, so you just weren't there for a while, or something. But, which part are you?_

_Your demon part,_ was the simple reply. Zack just stood there, in the middle of the hall, having no idea how to react.

_W-what?_ Was his oh-so-clever response.

_I was awakened by something, though I'm not entirely sure what. Maybe a high concentration of demonic energy. Maybe some demonic object you came in contact with. But, whatever. Whatever woke me up, it had to have taken a while to make me form. So, you didn't come in contact with it just today! But, here I am! I'm here! I'm your demon self! _The voice's long answer made Zack a bit dizzy.

He had a demon self! A demon self! Well, this was definitely new!

_It'll take some getting used to, don't worry, but it's ok! I'm here to help, not kill. Not all demons are bad, ya know!_ the voice said reassuringly.

The ravenette wobbled slightly. This was crazy! He was crazy! He had to be a schizophrenic!

_No, you're not,_ the voice said flatly.

_STOP DOING THAT!_ Zack yelled suddenly.

_What?_

_Reading my mind!_

_I'm PART of your mind! I can't help it!_

_Well, cut it out somehow!_

_Learn to cover it up!_

_Learn to ignore it!_

_That's a lot easier for you!_

_HEY!!!_

_Look, we won't be able to work together if we keep arguing! _The voice said after a few heartbeats. They both needed to calm down.

_Yeah, I guess, seeing as I'm stuck with you now!_ Zack grumbled in his mind, but there was good nature to it.

The voice chuckled slightly and the ravenette could almost see it nod, even though he had no clue what it looked like.

_So, what am I supposed to call you?_ Zack questioned after a few seconds, as he started to continue on to the murder scene.

_Hmmm, well, I don't know. You name me!_ The voice answered simply. _Technically, my name is Zack, like you, but that would just get a bit confusing._

The ravenette nodded slowly. _How bout Zax?_

_No._

_HEY! I thought I got to name you!_ Zack complained much like a little boy who learned he wasn't aloud to get a candy bar at the store.

_That name is too close to yours. It would still be confusing!_ The voice explained as if it was the easiest thing on earth.

_Ok, Ok! Fine! SHEESH! _The Lieutenant's brow scrunched together in thought. A good name. _What kind of demon are ya?_ Hey! He wasn't stupid. When he was younger he loved to tell ghost stories, or horror stories, so he knew that there were many kinds of demons.

_I'm an elemental wolf. I'm an earth element, but have a metal attribute to it as well. Earth and metal are pretty close elements,_ the voice answered smoothly.

_Cool,_ Zack thought.

Well, what was a good name for a wolf? Maybe Spike? No, that was Cloud's nickname. He thought about as many names that might fit, until a lesson from when he was a cadet came to Zack's mind. They had extra time in the lesson, so their teacher had decided to teach them about Mythology. There was a name that he remembered that meant deed of the wolf. And it was also the name of a king that was driven mad by the gods. Hey, this voice might drive him mad!

_How bout Lycurgus?_ Zack asked.

_Well, it sure is unique!_ The voice answered slowly, definitely mulling over the name.

_And totally different from Zack!_ The ravenette added.

_Hmmmm,_ the voice hummed in thought and Zack knew he shrugged. _Sounds great to me! Maybe we should shorten it a bit, though…_

Zack nodded. Yeah, a nickname would be great._ Gus?_

_No._

_Lycur?_

_Maybe._

_Lyc?_

_That sounds like "Like"._

_So no?_

_Right._

_Urg?_

_What the hell?_

_Nevermind._

_Thank you!_

_How bout L?_

_I am NOT from Death Journal!_

_Death Note._

_Whatever!_

_I guess we'll go with Lycur, then!_

_I guess so!_

_Hi Lycur!_

_…_

_Say hi back!_

_No._

_SAY HI BACK!!!_

_OK!! Hi Zack…_

_YEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!_

_I'm surrounded by idiots…_

_Yeeeeeah!_

_Shut up._

_Love you too!_

Zack grinned at his great teasing abilities and finally entered the dining hall. Night was starting to fall and he was pretty sure Cloud was back in his room, fast asleep, and that Qliphoth was conked out as well.

_Maybe Cloud never left!_ Lycur said, a grin in his voice. Zack sniggered slightly. He really was part of him!

The Lieutenant looked around at the dining hall. He saw a group of hospital employees carrying out a human sized bag. The cadet, from what Zack understood, and he shuddered. He couldn't help but picture Cloud with the bullet through his head. Though he only knew the blonde for just over a week, the kid had really grown on him.

"Lieutenant, sir!" a voice said to the left of Zack, just behind the passing hospital employees. The ravenette turned to see a SOLDIER First saluting to him.

"At ease," Zack said calmly, flashing a small smile. The SOLDIER put his hands to his side.

"The dogs have yet to sniff out any other scent other then the SOLDIER's, the cadet's, and Miss. Smith, the serving woman," the SOLDIER informed. "The SOLDIER has been sent to the medical wing of the building and is having surgery performed on him as we speak. And, General Sephiroth is on his way here right now."

Zack nodded to the man and let him head back to his room to rest. When the man left, the ravenette suddenly had an idea.

_Hey, you said you were "awakened" by a high concentration of demonic energy, right?_ Zack questioned his demon self.

_MIGHT have been awakened by that. I'm not sure, really. Why?_ Lycur replied slowly.

_Well, I'm a friend with Sephy--_

_Still not sure why you call him that!_

_--and he's known as the demon of Wutai. So, I was thinking,_ the violet-eyed man let the question die.

_No, you hanging out with Sephiroth,_ Lycur answered without one pause, _did not awaken me._ Not one little hesitation.

_How do you know?_ Zack questioned further and a long sigh was heard from his other self.

_Sephiroth is thought of as almost a god in this world, but with demons, his power isn't all that great. He might be considered average. He's far from having enough demonic energy to actually wake me up,_ was Lycur's answer. So, to demons Sephiroth was just average? That didn't seem possible. Demons couldn't be that strong, could they?

_Oh, there are demons out there that could kill you by just snapping their fingers,_ Lycur answered simply, his voice calm as if he were having any other, everyday conversation.

_Really?_ Zack questioned, not sure if he should believe him. A nod was his only answer. It was kind of weird how he somehow knew what his other self was doing even if he couldn't see him. _Wait, how do you know all this?_

_What do you mean? I AM a demon after all! _Lycur snapped.

_Yeah, and you've also been stuck, asleep in my head for all my life!_ Zack retorted angrily.

_Ah, yes! That I have been!_ The demon wolf nodded in understanding to what the ravenette was asking. _Yes, well, how should I put this? It's kind of like common knowledge for demons was basically branded into my brain._

_So, you know common knowledge for demons, but you don't know where the info came from?_

_Pretty much._

_COOL!_

_I knew you'd say that…_

Zack mentally stuck out his tongue.

His mind wandered as his other self grew silent.

So, demons were mighty creatures that would most likely find him a weakling and Seph acceptable. They could probably defeat them easily as well.

Wait a minute! If demons were real, where were they all from? Where were they? Did they have their own cities?

_Kind of,_ Lycur broke into his thoughts, making Zack jump with a small yelp.

_Well, where are they?_ Zack questioned when he got no further answer.

_I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone,_ there was a warning in the demon's voice. _I know how to destroy your memories in here!_

_Sheesh! I feel like some schoolgirl!_

_PROMISE!!!_

"OK, I PROMISE!!!!" Zack yelled in panic, again not meaning to actually say it out loud. He was just thankful no one was in the room. Lycur snickered in the background at his mess up. _Shut up._

_Love you too! _Lycur snickered a bit more, then cleared his throat and became very serious. _Demons are not from your world. We are from a different dimension, parallel to yours. That's why it is so worrisome to me that I have awoken. I don't know where such a concentration of demonic energy could be in this world._

Zack nodded, slightly understanding the demon's worry. Maybe it was because they were basically the same person.

_Well, quick question,_ the ravenette decided to change the subject, not liking the waves of anxiety that vibrated off of his other self.

_What now?_ Lycur's voice was thick with irritation.

_Who's the most powerful demon in the demon world?_ Zack asked innocently. His demon self shrugged.

_No one knows! Each territory would say it was someone different then the other territories. They'd probably say their king or queen, but some say others. There are a lot of powerful demons out there that could wipe the floor with your sorry ass!_

_HEY!!_

_Sorry, couldn't resist!_

_Well, give me an example of one of the demons,_ Zack grumbled, a pout in his voice.

_Er,_ Lycur trailed off, thinking of a good demon. _Well, there's the king of Western Region, Magnorak. He's almost unstoppable!_

_COOL! I wanna meet him! _The ravenette cheered happily, excitement taking his features.

_Like you ever would. He doesn't have time for humans like you, in all honesty. I doubt he'd even want to meet you!_ Lycur answered quietly. His voice wasn't snide or sharp, like he was being mean to Zack, but more like speaking the truth, no matter how much it hurt.

Zack's excitement sank sadly and he kicked the ground like a disappointed child.

_Fine, then! Jeez!_

_I don't mean it personally. He's just known for being on the cold side!_

_Yeah, yeah._

Their conversation was cut to an end, though, as the dining hall doors opened again and in walked a being of power. Zack's face took on a large grin as he bounded over to the new comer like a happy puppy, greeting his master home.

"Hey, Sephy! Glad you could finally come!" the ravenette greeted his friend happily. Sephiroth glanced at him for a second, before his features turned to stone once more.

_He's so emotional, isn't he!_ Lucur thought sarcastically and Zack mentally shoved him.

"Zackary," the general nodded to his second in charge. "Have we figured ANYTHING out about the murders?" the silverette groaned tiredly, sounding much like he didn't want to be there.

_Why don't you go back to your paper work then, princess! Seeing as murder inside the ShinRa building is oh-so-common!_ Lycur snarled. Zack shoved him again, even harder.

_Shut up!_ The ravenette ground out.

_He can't even hear me!_ Lycur snapped back, but Zack ignored him, not feeling like getting into an argument at the moment.

"Not a thing!" Zack answered Sephiroth with a strained smile. It was too bad the general had been trained to notice facial expressions and he knew what Zack looked like when he was at ease.

"Are you alright?" the general questioned, arching an eyebrow. He didn't sound exactly worried. Lycur hissed in Zack's head. Zack shoved him.

"Y-yeah! Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" the ravenette questioned, obviously trying to calm his features.

"You seem strained," Sephiroth replied flatly, still not sounding like he really cared.

"Oh, well, let's just say I'm having trouble with a little voice in my head!" Zack put forward, hoping his friend would leave it at that.

_LITTLE?_ Lycur exclaimed angrily. Insert another shove.

"Did you do something wrong, then?" the general questioned further as he started to head for the kitchen to inspect the scene. Zack hoped that this "curse" that had made him queasy when he was in there didn't affect Sephiroth.

_Well, if it's a demon curse, I wouldn't be surprised if it did,_ Lycur mumbled, mostly to himself.

_Are you talking to me?_ Zack questioned.

_No! I'm talking to Will Smith! OF COURSE I'M TALKING TO YOU!_ The demon wolf snarled sarcastically.

_Touchy! _Zack grumbled.

"No, I didn't do anything wrong! Why would you think that?" Zack turned his attention back to his silver-haired friend.

"You said your conscience was bothering you," Sephiroth groaned, irritated.

"I said that a tiny, itsy-bitsy, little, miniscule—"

_Get on with it!_ Lycur growled.

"—voice was bothering me! I never said it was my conscience!"

_Do you even have a conscience?_ Lycur questioned.

_Probably not. Do you want to take the job?_ Zack grinned in his head.

_No way in hell. I'm betting your old conscience, both demon and angel, ran for the hills after the first day on the job!_ Zack's demon self teased.

_Not true! _The ravenette defended, _I just wasn't born with one!_ Lycur laughed at his humorous comment. Zack wasn't surprised. He WAS part of himself so he would find what he found humorous, funny as well.

Sephiroth just stared at Zack blankly, honestly not sure of what his friend was yapping on about. The general just shook his head, deciding it would be much too hard to figure out his Lieutenant.

The cat-eyed man strolled into the kitchen, somehow avoiding the blood puddles on the ground, and looked around. The search dogs were still sniffing about and their owners quickly saluted to their general.

"Zackary," Sephiroth turned his head back slightly, but still not looking at the violet-eyed man.

"Si senior?" Zack grinned, standing behind his higher up. Lycur chuckled at his other self's antics.

"Do you smell oil?"

_~Somewhere In The ShinRa Building~_

"Exceed! Ex-Ray! Extinct! Come here!" a dark, female voice spoke in the shadows away from the view of any SOLDIER or Turk. Three small, cat like animals hurried over to their master from the other shadows.

"Yes master?" the one with his eyes sewn shut spoke. He was Extinct.

"We have a new problem," the woman spoke slowly, looking around to make sure no one was near.

Ex-Ray, the one with his lips sewn shut, cocked his head to the side, asking his master what it could be.

The woman did not answer right away, looking around one final time just incase, then turned to her three minions once again. "It appears Magnorak isn't alone on this mission," the woman snarled. "One of his idiotic friends is helping him. Though I don't know which one. It was a good idea on your part, Exceed," the woman nodded to the minion with his ears torn to shreds, "to speak to that serving woman. What a poor excuse for a human!"

Ex-Ray did a few signs with his hands to his deaf brother who nodded slowly.

"Serving person not make much commotion if killed. Still make commotion though. It still murder," Exceed spoke, his voice sounding off like most deaf creature's speech.

"It is a shame, though, that that human warrior and his apprentice got in the way. Their deaths will cause an uproar," Extinct put forth the disturbing news.

"You think I didn't know that?!" the woman snarled angrily, lifting her hand as if to strike the one that dare defy her.

"No ma'am! No ma'am!" Extinct quivered, as did his brothers. They knew to never anger their master. The woman stared the blind one down, finally lowering her hand with a frustrated sigh.

"We need to get rid of the fox's friend," the woman growled, still angry at her minion's comment. "We don't even know who their going undercover as! GOD!" the woman's eyes stormed with rage and irritation. It was true. They had only been able to put together with what the serving human had told them that Magnorak was somewhere in the SOLDIER program and that he had a helper SOMEWHERE in the ShinRa force. Could be an employee, SOLDIER, cadet, Turk, they didn't know.

"Find his little helper and kill them as slowly and painfully as possible!" the woman commanded angrily, standing up herself.

"Yes master! Immediately!" her three minions answered in unison, other then the mute one, who had been signing to his deaf brother the orders. The three brothers were gone instantly, scurrying off in search of their prey.

The woman grinned showing her many, many rows of metallic, razor sharp teeth. The sooner she killed the Western king and his little, pathetic friend, the sooner she could kill her true enemy.

The woman cackled as she walked into the light of the room, her silver-grey hair messy and falling down her back, her slitted, green-eyes that seemed to take the light glinted with a need for death.

Now, where to look first?

Turks seemed good. The woman remembered that one of that idiot kings friends had red hair and green eyes. She also remembered their being a Turk that fit that description.

_Pfft! I don't care if he's that bumbling phoenix! I think I'll kill him anyway!_ The woman thought darkly, her grin widening to an insane looking size.

The woman walked out of the room, only to bump into a SOLDIER Third. The SOLDIER made a "sorry" noise and started to keep going.

"Excuse me?" the woman called, stopping the SOLDIER before he could go much farther. The Third turned back and the skin on the woman's hand ripped as mechanics underneath turned into a gun. "I need your uniform." She placed the gun to his head and fired.

**~POLL~**

1. Should Qliphoth meet Sephiroth soon?

-Yes (how soon?) (how should Sephy react?)_ -1 vote-_

-No


	9. Chapter 8: Lessons

Chapter Eight:

"I need to get drunk," Qliphoth groaned angrily across the table from both Cloud and Zack. The blonde and ravenette were happy that their friend was back to her normal personality after just one night of rest. It was just last night that they had walked into the dining hall and found Qliphoth broken down.

Cloud was happy his friend's personality was back, but whom she had accused of murdering her boss had really sent his mind reeling.

Expire.

The cyborg.

Qliphoth's worst enemy who continually hunted down the silverette to kill her painfully. It was in her programming to try and kill her.

Cloud remembered meeting the robotic woman for the first time five years ago. He and Qliphoth had been on a mission with a few other Western warriors in some mines near the Southern Region. Southern Region had ambushed them and Expire had been with them. She was amazingly powerful and had killed about half of Cloud's forces, but had retreated when reinforcements came for the fox demon.

With plenty of thinking over the night before, Cloud had to agree with his cat-eyed friend. He remembered Expire not even having any scent. She seemed to mix with the environment except for the tiniest trace of oil smell. It was almost unnoticeable. A mere search dog couldn't sniff it out. Demons and maybe mako enhanced SOLDIERs could.

But, what Qliphoth had yet to realize, was that if it WAS Expire who had killed them, that meant that a murderous, psycho robot girl was running around the ShinRa building, probably killing even more people just to get closer to figuring out where Qliphoth was and kill HER. Then she'd probably destroy the whole ShinRa building just for a psychotic laugh.

But, for some reason, Cloud just didn't get it. Expire didn't seem like the type just to come into the human world. He knew, for a fact, that the cyborg hated all humans, and she just didn't seem the type to go deal with something that she totally despised just to get to something else that she totally despised. It just seemed off to have Expire there. He didn't know why, though.

"Then go get a glass of wine!" Zack offered his newest friend, shrugging and smiling. There WAS wine available to the ShinRa employees in the employee lounge.

"Wine isn't strong enough! I need beer, or whiskey, or something like that!" Qliphoth complained, slamming her head onto the table. Yep, she was back to her old self. Though she was always happy and hyper, she was known for loving beer and such. She used to be an alcoholic, but with help she had become less addicted and would have maybe a cup or so at a party or bar.

But, sometimes, she just really needed to have a drink. Now was a good time. She was off work for a while, ShinRa getting a temporary cook to cook and serve the food for about a week so Qliphoth could recover. Not that she really needed it.

"Well, maybe I can sneak you out and get you some beer at a bar near by!" Zack offered cheerfully.

"Hey! I'm going too!" Cloud spoke up, suddenly loving the idea of having a beer. He hadn't had a beer in SO long! The downs of being a teen…

"Hey! Hey! No! You're underage!" Zack interjected, turning towards his blonde friend.

"Not in Nibelheim!" Cloud shot back. Thank you Nibelheim for having low drinking ages. He had an excuse to go out to a bar and order some alcohol.

Qliphoth chuckled and jabbed a thumb at the fox demon. "This guy can go up to, like, eight big cups of beer without even getting too tipsy!" the silverette laughed happily. That was true. Certain demons, including kitsunes, fox demons, were just great at holding their liquor.

Zack glanced at Cloud slowly, then sighed. "Only if you can find a way to look older, then fine! You can come!" was the violet-eyed man's answer. Qliphoth squealed happily and lunged across the table to hug her black-haired friend. Zack had grown, thanks to Cloud's warnings, to expect strong, choking hugs from the hyper cook.

"I'll help get Cloud ready, for sure! We've done this before at a bar in Costa del Sol!" Qliphoth exclaimed happily, jumping back into her own seat. Zack gave Cloud a curious glance and the blonde glared at his green-eyed friend.

"You weren't really supposed to tell him that," Cloud grumbled, remembering the memory of that particular Spring Break when he was still a warrior and he, Kiva, Zalu, Qliphoth, and Zeek had come to the human world for a vacation. It was just after he had learned how to turn into a human, but he was technically still too young to drink.

"Well, at least you'll know what to do!" Zack grinned wide and slung an arm around Cloud's shoulder. "Today's Sunday, right? You don't gots no classes!" Zack sang badly, and the blonde rolled his eyes and moved the Lieutenants arm off his shoulder.

"Then, can we go now?" Qliphoth did puppy dog eyes in hope.

"No, Qliph," both Cloud and Zack said at the same time, the silverette and ravenette falling into laughter quickly after. Cloud smiled slightly at their laughter, but it soon became background noise when someone caught his attention. He turned to his right, just past Zack, as a SOLDIER went by. It looked to be a Third Class, but something was up about how he walked.

His helmet was on, so the blonde couldn't see what their face looked like.

_Still hate those helmets,_ Cloud grumbled inside his head, continuing to follow the SOLDIER out of the corner of his eyes.

It was how he walked. It wasn't the personality of the walk, that seemed natural and comfortable, but just the STYLE of the walk. It didn't seem… male. There was a difference between the way a male and female walk. Even masculine females have a female like walk. There was more hip to a females walk, most of the time, and their feet work was normally lighter. Obviously, a male could do that, but it was the WAY it happened.

And that's when he saw it. When the SOLDIER passed straight to Cloud's right, his side in view, he saw it. A small bulge at the chest. Now, it could have been the baggy fabric of the turtleneck, but it still drew the blonde's attention.

And, did that SOLDIER have a limp? In both legs? His legs seemed on the stiff side when he walked, not in pain, or in emotion, just stiff, like they couldn't help it.

_Maybe it is an injury,_ Cloud mulled over the possibility, as he unconsciously began to glare at the SOLDIER. He didn't mean it, but his eyes began to harden into stones that held no emotion, yet every emotion at one time.

He could hear his two friends conversing with one another as the SOLDIER took a seat, but without any food. The SOLDIER looked around, turning their head this way and that, until turning and looking straight at Cloud. Though he couldn't see them, the blonde could feel their eyes narrowing and glaring lazars at the demon fox.

"Yo! Taco! What up wit' you?" Qliphoth waved a hand in the blonde's face and he turned towards his silver-haired friend.

"Nothing," he said flatly, looking down at his breakfast for the first time. He blinked a few times, not really sure what it was in front of him. It was a… glop.

"I think they called that waffles," Zack whispered to Cloud's disgusted and curious face as he gawked at the meal. The blonde glanced at him, and then turned to Qliphoth.

"I preferred it when you cooked, Qliph," he said blankly.

"AMEN TO DAT!" Zack exclaimed happily, making the silverette laugh. The violet-eyed man and cat-eyed woman continued to converse with each other. Cloud was silent through it all, every now and again poking at his meal, expecting it to get up and run out the door any second yelling something about freedom.

Cloud smiled at his two friends every now and again when they said something to him, but he didn't talk for the rest of the meal. That one SOLDIER had creeped him, and he still didn't know why.

The blonde glanced back at where the creepy SOLDIER Third had been sitting, but he was nowhere in sight.

Finally, breakfast ended, a clock on the wall showing that, and the blonde stood with his friends. Zack had to leave because of personal training that was supposed to be "so cool". So, Cloud stood with his silver-haired friend just outside the dining hall doors as SOLDIERs walked out slowly.

"Wanna go train?" Qliphoth offered and Cloud glanced at her.

"Someone might see us," the blonde advised only to have the silverette shake her head rapidly.

"No one hangs out at the cadet training grounds on Sunday!" Qliphoth replied with a smile. Cloud arched an eyebrow at his friend and shook his head.

"It's UNCOMMON for people to be in the cadet training grounds on Sunday. There's too big a chance for my liking," the demon king groaned and looked around. "How 'bout we just explore the building? I have been wanting to look around here," Cloud offered, his face stoic and emotionless.

"You mean you HAVEN'T looked around?" the silverette stared at her friend disbelievingly. "But, you're a HUGE explorer! You always have been! You haven't explored ANYTHING?!" Cloud glanced at his friend and shrugged nonchalantly.

"I memorized the layout of the building, but I haven't had the chance to actually look around," the blonde explained then began to stroll calmly down the halls in a random direction.

"So, then, what's the point of exploring if you know what you'll find?" Qliphoth whined, jogging to catch up with her friend and walk behind him. She had been polite to Cloud's true position as much as she could. So, she tried to follow him more then walk beside him, trying to help him feel more comfortable. She would let him speak his opinion first if it didn't make anyone suspicious. She tried a lot of subtle things, each one the blonde noticed.

Cloud glanced back at the green-eyed woman with a smirk. "I just know the room name, not what's necessarily in there," he answered simply, turning forward again. Qliphoth scrunched her eyebrows together in thought.

"And, I'm pretty much ignoring my memory of that for the time being," the blonde said as an after thought and the silverette smirked. Ignoring memories was something all warriors were trained to do and eventual learn how to temporarily erase them.

So, the two friends walked into a random elevator and shut their eyes and hit a random button. They were heading up after the doors shut. Cloud peaked at which button they had pressed.

Floor 21

Wait, wasn't that floor the…

Cloud shook off what was about to come to his mind. This was supposed to be fun. If he and Qliphoth got in trouble then so be it. It would just feel like they were trainees again.

The elevator dinged open and the two walked out slowly, looking around to make sure no one noticed them. When they were sure they were fine, then Cloud took the lead, strolling calmly through the halls.

Something that the two knew was if you are in somewhere you're not supposed to be in or you're doing something you shouldn't be doing, then you need to keep calm and confident. Make it look like you're supposed to be there. Then, people might believe you're supposed to be there. Of course there is still a large chance people will catch you; it's a larger chance that you won't if you're calm.

"So, where should we go first?" the cat-eyed woman behind Cloud whispered, looking around excitedly. The blonde glanced at his friend and shrugged.

"We go where our feet take us," the blonde answered simply, turning forward once more.

"That was so deep," Qliphoth whispered, humor in her voice.

Cloud rolled his eyes and hesitated, looking around the hall that he stood in. Which room? Which room? Finally, the blonde decided to enter a random door that seemed to have a few pieces knocked out of it. Maybe a training ground.

His guess was proven correct as the silverette and blonde entered a long hallway with window walls parallel to where the two had just entered. Doors lead down to tons of separate training rooms, each separated by bulletproof glass walls. It reminded Cloud, slightly, of tennis courts, just a lot bigger.

"Oh! This looks like fun!" Qliphoth "ooh"ed and "aw"ed at the sight. She always had a love for training and sparring. Cloud guessed it because she liked to just smack something without any stress that if she lost, something terrible would happen. Stress in battle always helped with making your moves better but it was still a pain in the neck. A nagging feeling in the back of your head never does make you feel good.

"Can we PLEASE train?" Qliphoth begged, trying her best puppy dog face, praying that her blonde friend would say yes.

"No, Qliph! We don't know who's training grounds these are for! We don't know what they mainly function in!" Cloud shook his head in answer, but sighed as the silverette's expression took on confusion. "For all we know, this could be some gun training grounds with targets you gotta shoot, not sparing grounds. And someone might come in while we're fighting!"

Qliphoth looked downcast, and turned to stare longingly at the training grounds. She had really wanted to train that day. Get her mind off of everything that was going on recently.

The sound of a door closing behind the two made Cloud stiffen slightly. He turned his head to look behind him and saw a man in a black tux staring at him and his silver-haired friend. Qliphoth looked back as well to see who was there. She had stiffened as well, but as soon as she saw who it was, she went loose.

"AH-HA!" she exclaimed, swinging to face the newcomer fully and point a finger at him. The man's green eyes widened in surprise from the sudden out burst. "YOU OWE ME TEN GIL!!" the silverette continued. The man calmed himself and shook his head to clear it.

"What you talking about, yo?" the man said and Cloud just then noticed what he looked like. Spiky, fire red hair covered his head and its long length was held in a loose ponytail behind him. His eyes were a sparkling forest green and small, red tattoos were underneath his eyes. Or were those scars?

He looked so familiar. So much like Kiva!

"It's been a week, and I haven't eaten one bit o' chocolate!" Qliphoth bragged and Cloud realized who this was. This was obviously the Turk that his cat-eyed friend had told him about who had bet she could go without chocolate for a week. The blonde hadn't learned his name, but he intended to learn it soon. He just became so suspicious when he realized how similar this Turk and Kiva looked.

"Yo, you got, like, one more hour before the bet ends!" the Turk complained, grinning slightly.

God, even their grin looked alike.

"Oh, whatever! Give me my ten gil!" Qliphoth rolled her eyes, starting to sound annoyed.

"Yo, one more hour!" the redhead replied.

"Now!" the silverette threw back.

"Later, yo!" the Turk started to walk towards one of the training room doors.

"NOW!" Qliphoth shrieked. Cloud sighed, knowing what was coming. There was a loud crash as the silverette tackled the redhead.

"OW, YO! GET OFF!" the Turk yelled at his attacker.

"You don't have any money, do you?" Cloud said monotonously, walking calmly over to his friend and the Turk. The redhead blinked at him a few times as Qliphoth finally got up off of him.

"Aren't you a cadet?" the man questioned, standing up slowly.

"Don't change the subject," Cloud said flatly, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow at the redhead.

The Turk squirmed slightly and the blonde smiled inside. He was used to people feeling uncomfortable around him, but when he became this cadet, people couldn't be less afraid of him. Having someone actually get a bit nervous around him, even though he still looked like a teen, made him very pleased.

"Well, uh, no. I ain't got no gil, yo," the Turk finally answered and the silverette screamed in defiance.

"THEN WHY DID YOU BET ME?" Qliphoth screeched angrily, both the blonde and the redhead covering their ears from the high volume. It was amazing how loud the green-eyed woman could get and Cloud was slightly surprised she had not pursued training in the sound element.

"I was hoping you'd cave and I'd get some cash, yo!" the Turk's eyes were wide with panic as he faced off against an angry Qliphoth. Cloud and all of his friends, and just about everyone in the demon world knew that an angry Qliphoth was bad news.

"ME? CAVE? WHY WOULD YOU THINK I'D DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Qliphoth's rant continued at the ever-present loud volume.

"Actually, I'm not surprised he'd think that," Cloud shrugged and his silver-haired friend stared at him with a mix of resentment and shock. The blonde glanced at her and shrugged again.

"What? He only knows you a little bit, right?" the silverette nodded slowly to her king's question. "Well, then, at first glance, you seem like a crazy crackpot, which you are—"

"HEY!"

"—but, if he actually knew you like me or the others do, then he'd know that you're also a stubborn little girl." Qliphoth steamed angrily, grumbling curses towards both the blonde and the redhead, but, with a few deep breaths, she was finally back to her somewhat calm self.

"Ok! Just get me my ten gil SOON!" Qliphoth said to the Turk who had just watched the whole exchange quietly. He turned to her and nodded with a big grin.

"GOT IT, YO!" he exclaimed cheerfully and Cloud squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. Great! Another person he had to deal with that had caffeine in their veins. How many of those people did he know?

Kiva, Zack, Qliphoth, and this Turk. Four people. Why does it seem like more?

"Uh, yes, well, I'm Cloud Strife," the demon fox extended his hand to the redhead, who took it and shook violently.

"Name's Reno, yo!" the Turk grinned happily. Cloud yanked his hand away from the iron grip and shook it behind his back. This guy had one strong hand!

"Hey! Are these the Turk's training grounds?" Qliphoth piped up. Of course she'd ask something about the training ground. Cloud wasn't at all surprised from her random question.

"Yeah! It's mainly for target practice, though," Reno answered, looking out at the grounds.

_Oh my God, he didn't say "yo"!_ Cloud thought blankly in his head. He was a bit curious as to why the redhead was so addicted to the word. Wait a minute!

The blonde smirked mischievously, both Reno and Qliphoth catching it.

"I know that smile! Whatcha' thinkin'?" the silverette questioned, a grin of her own spreading across her face.

"Can I make a bet of my own with you, Reno?" Cloud spoke to the Turk, giving his cat-eyed friend a look that said she'd get an answer soon.

"Yeah! Sounds fun, yo! What're the terms?" Reno smiled down at the demon king. Cloud guessed he was trying to intimidate him, but he wasn't fazed. He had faced off against giant snakes bigger then the ShinRa building and won! Not much can really scare someone after that.

"For a week, you can't," Cloud paused for dramatic effect. Qliphoth and Reno were literally leaning towards him, anxious to hear what the bet was. The blonde looked at them both in turn, took a deep breath, and finished, "say 'yo'!" Reno stared at him for a few seconds, straightening up slowly, processing what the bet was. Qliphoth had covered her mouth, trying to hold back laughter.

"Sounds good to me, y—I mean, uh, what happens if I win? Do I get money y— erk!" Reno caught himself quickly before he could even say anything.

Cloud thought about good winnings and shrugged. "If you win, I have to do a dare of yours no matter what. If I win, YOU gotta do a dare of mine! But the end results of the dare can't be permanent like shaving off your hair or getting a tattoo," Reno nodded to the answer, smiling slightly as he shook the fox demon's hand again.

Qliphoth tapped her Turk friend's shoulder and smiled. "I'm free for about a week, so I'll be checking in on you! Oh, this is gonna be good!" the silverette grinned wickedly to the redhead, who took a step away from her.

"Don't worry," Cloud whispered to Reno as his friend went to stare out at the training ground. "You'll get used to her eventually."

The Turk glanced at him with slightly widened eyes. "Eventually?"

"Yep! Just don't give her any form of coffee," Cloud answered, shuddering somewhat at the memory of when Qliphoth had had easy access to coffee. It was terrifying!

Reno nodded slowly, arching an eyebrow first at the blonde, then the silverette who was nearly glued against the window, staring out at the fields. "How did you two meet?" Cloud spoke up, hoping to start a conversation with the Turk, his curiosity peaked about him.

Reno glanced at him and shrugged. "Walking around, she was on break, I ran into her and I dropped some papers. She offered to help me, and that's pretty much it!" Cloud was impressed at his adaptation to his speech. He was already not saying "yo" in every sentence. Cloud prayed to himself that the redhead couldn't think up any good dares.

Oh, who was he kidding? The guy was a Turk! They were known for being sneaky! And he had a whole week to think of a good dare! Cloud was doomed.

"And it came up that she really likes chocolate?" the blonde questioned simply.

"No. I had a snickers bar in my pocket and she saw it," Reno replied, looking away a bit.

"She tackled you for it, didn't she?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Cloud sighed at his friend's antics. She was always being hyper, getting into trouble, and just freaking people out! Why couldn't she just act calm around people? Sometimes it was so irritating to the blonde king that he wanted to scream and throw a chair at the silverette.

"Hey! Can you let us into one of the training grounds?" Qliphoth suddenly asked the red-haired Turk. Cloud gave her a warning glare, saying she was on thin ice, but she pointedly ignored him.

"Yeah! But only if you don't tell nobody about this, y- erk! Qliphoth!" Reno gave them a hesitant smile as he nearly slipped up. He shook it off and walked over to one of the doors, opening it and letting the silverette and the blonde in before him. Qliphoth zoomed in at high speeds, but Cloud walked in more calmly, with an air of strength that shouldn't go with a cadet. He didn't care then.

"There are some training guns over in that closet," Reno explained, pointing at a door at the far side of the field. Qliphoth was instantly bursting open the door and rushing inside. Cloud stood near the wall, watching as his friend came back out with a training gun and hurried over to her Turk friend.

"You forgot one for blondie," Reno said slowly, arching an eyebrow at the silverette. Qliphoth glanced back at her king and shrugged.

"He always hated working with guns! He sucks with them!" she grinned at the Turk and spun the gun around on her finger.

"Bang," Cloud whispered, knowing what would happen before it came. His silver-haired friend's finger slipped and the training gun fell to the ground. As it hit, the momentum caused the trigger to go off and a bullet was sent flying towards the blonde's head. He moved just an inch to the side as the bullet hit the wall to his left.

"Nice," the blonde said flatly to Qliphoth as she smiled nervously.

"Sorry!" the silverette called, picking up her gun with care, making sure not to fire it again. She turned sheepishly to the redhead. "How 'bout we start?" she suggested only to have the Turk nod slowly and start to set up a few targets.

Cloud watched from the side of the field as Reno and Qliphoth trained. The cat-eyed woman was right about him hating to work with guns. He never knew why, but he could never get used to them and he never like them. He was fine at aiming and shooting things with his own powers, but using a gun always seemed to go wrong. If he had to use a weapon other them his own powers to shoot something down he'd much prefer to use a bow and arrow. He wasn't perfect at those either, but he preferred them to a gun.

So, as Cloud watched his friend and the Turk train, he had a lot of time to think of why he had sensed demonic energy coming off of Zack

_~Zack's Room~_

_I still think it's awesome that your room is so big!_ Lycur said happily as Zack walked into his room. His demon self had promised him a cool training lesson on demons. And maybe how to even channel demonic power into his attacks and all that cool stuff.

_But, you should really clean it,_ the demon grumbled as an after thought. The ravenette rolled his eyes.

_What are you? My mom?_ The Lieutenant groaned.

_Thankfully, no!_ Lycur answered dryly.

_What's that supposed to mean?_ Zack questioned indignantly, suddenly quite annoyed.

_Nothing! Nothing,_ the wolf waved his paws as if to ward off something. It still creeped the violet-eyed man out at how he somehow knew what his other self was doing.

_Can we just begin this stupid lesson?_ Zack grumbled, crossing his arms. He had expected his other self to tell him to head for the training grounds, but as he had been walking in that direction, the wolf interrupted him and told him to go to his own room.

_It's for privacy reasons! God! How do you think people would react if they saw you using demon attacks?_ Lycur suddenly spoke up, again reading Zack's thoughts.

_GRAH!!! I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT!!!_ Zack yelled back. In the small amount of time that the two had actually been together, the demon wolf had read Zack's mind many times and retorted in some form, causing the ravenette to jump many times.

Zack knew Lycur was sticking out his tongue.

_Well, ok then. Find a place where you can be comfortable,_ Lycur ordered his human self, who stood there, blinking, not exactly sure what to do. There was a sigh and then, _go sit on your couch and get comfy. This'll take a while._

_OKKIE-DOKEY! _Zack answered cheerfully, almost skipping over to the bright, orange couch and sitting down on it with a small leap.

_I didn't notice this earlier, but, uh, Zack?_ Lycur started slowly, sounding not sure how to ask this. _Why, exactly, is your couch such an obnoxious shade of orange?_

Zack huffed to himself. "I swear! You sound more like Sephiroth then me!" he retorted out loud, not caring if anyone heard. Not like anyone would, anyway. He was in the privacy of his own home at the time, so speaking out loud was safe.

_Hey! Don't diss me like that! _The demon wolf said indignantly. Zack sighed. His demon self had to be the only person he knew that didn't worship the ground the general walked on. Or, at least, respect him a little bit.

_I would never respect a man that is known more for his killing abilities then for his mercy,_ Lycur growled angrily. The ravenette couldn't help but flinch. In the short time he had known him, Zack had never heard his demon self get so worked up. What was with him?

_Why are you so against Sephy?_ The Lieutenant asked, curiosity and weariness lining his voice.

He heard a long, hard sigh from the demon that sounded like he was about to tell a difficult tale. Zack readied himself for a long explanation. And by ready, to Zack, that means pillow ready to catch his head when he falls asleep.

_That General of yours is looked up at by almost everyone on the planet, excluding most Wutainians—er, Wutainese—em, Wutaicheese…_

_Wutaicheese? What the hell is that?_ Zack questioned, trying his best to not laugh at Lycur's tongue twisting.

_SHUT UP! You get what I mean… Anyway, he's looked up around here, but for what I ask you?_ The violet-eyed man blinked a few times in thought.

_Uh, 'cause he's cool? 'Cause he's a great fighter?_ Zack answered slowly.

_Because he has a reputation. Because he's high ranking and powerful. He walks with power. Speaks with power. All that chiz!_

_Chiz?_

_IT'S A WORD!_

_Since when?_

_SINCE NOW!_

_You can't make up a word!_

_All languages had to be made up from scratch!_

_Nu-uh! English has a lot of Latin-y stuff!_

_And how was Latin created?_

_Er… um… by Gaia?_

Lycur smacked his forehead. _You're hopeless…_

Zack stuck out his tongue. _Jus' continue already!_

_Ok, where was I? Oh, right! Well, anyway, Sephiroth just radiates power. But, no one ever seems to think deeper on the subject. Sephiroth uses that power to slaughter people. Slaughter things without another thought. Now, if it's to protect someone he cares about, that's understandable, but even so, he doesn't ever flinch at ANY of the deaths. _Lycur explained his theory slowly, so as not to get his human self lost in it in the middle.

_Ok, I THINK I understand what you're saying. But, that's his job! He has to do tha—_

_No, Zack, he doesn't HAVE to. He could choose not to if he wanted. But he doesn't, and I honestly question that. It's one thing to go on missions because you feel the obligation to, I respect that, but your General seems to go on the missions without even thinking over it._

_Hey! He thinks over them!_ Zack suddenly was getting quite agitated with his demon self's accusations. He had no right to say such things! No right at all!

_I do have a right, Zackary Fair! Every right! And he does think over the mission! Yeah, after he's accepted it and is making a strategy to kill every single person he THINKS might be guilty of something._

_HEY! YOU CANT—_but the Lieutenant was cut off.

_And then what does he do? He saunters around with all that power as if he's telling everyone he's the best. No one can ever be as good as him and that they might as well throw away all their dreams to become as good as him! Yeah! There's modesty for ya!_ Lycur ended the statement with venomous sarcasm that made Zack flinch.

Silence ensued other then the demon wolf's angry pants from his long rant. The ravenette had no idea how he was supposed to respond to such resentment against his friend and higher up. No one had ever spoken about Sephiroth that way before. Ever! It just didn't seem right.

There was a heavy sigh from his other self and he knew he was shaking his furry head as if to clear it. _I'm sorry, Zack. That was out of line. I'm sure that General Sephiroth isn't as terrible as I just let him out to be. I guess, I just really don't like him, and I honestly don't know, fully, why. Please forgive me._

There was a long hesitation as the purple-eyed man digested the words. It irked him a bit at how similar his and the demon's voices sounded, yet HOW they spoke was so very different. Zack always spoke with ease and comfort, but Lycur spoke with an air that just begged for respect and radiated responsibility.

_I dunno! Sephy CAN be pretty terrible!_ Zack joked, lightening the mood and making both of them laugh heartedly. It was an unspoken truce. Lycur had every right to not like the silver-haired man, even though Zack didn't know WHY he disliked him so much. And Zack had every right to stand up for the cat-eyed man and to look up to him. But they both knew that they wouldn't be criticizing the other any time soon about what they thought on the matter.

Yeah, the Lieutenant would admit he was definitely a Sephiroth fan when he was still a cadet, but not a total addict. Now, he and the general were great friends, at least in his mind, but he still looked up to the man in a way. He and Angeal had been his two idols. Mainly Angeal, but the silverette was in there too.

The ravenette quickly shook his head, not enjoying the sad memories that thinking about his old mentor brought on. Zack quickly decided it best to pull his thoughts away from where they were going.

_Hey, Lycurgus! How does, uh, that West king act like?_ Zack asked out of curiosity. Lycur hummed to himself in thought, but he shook his head in mild annoyance after a while.

_Magnorak. And, that's really not common knowledge, Zack. I wouldn't really know. All I know is that he's a fair and just leader and tries to treat everyone, even the poorest of the poor, as his equal. That's pretty much all I know,_ the wolf answered finally, voice slightly irritated.

Zack couldn't help but nod. That just sounded like the right kind of explanation. Whenever he heard the word "king" he always thought of fair and equal… or evil and unfair and murderous…

_So, uh, what kind of lessons are we going to be doing, Sensei?_ Zack asked light heartedly, smiling cheerfully as he felt Lycur role his eyes.

_Great, so now I'm Lycur-sensei, eh? That'll be a heart attack!_ The demon mumbled good-naturedly. Zack chuckled slightly then fell silent, waiting for the wolf to continue. _Ok, what we're going to do first is learn how to switch roles._

_Eh?_

_There are two different forms of that. First is that we switch our bodies. You are a wolf demon and I am a human, but I'm still in your mind and you're still in control of the physical body._ Waves of excitement started to waft off of Zack at the idea of becoming a demon wolf. _And the other is we switch minds so that I'm controlling the physical body and you're in the mental body._

Zack literally started to bounce up and down on his couch with excitement. He couldn't wait!

_Ok, we'll start by switching bodies. It's actually a lot easier then it sounds. Ok, now concentrate on my form. On the form of a wolf. On my voice. And concentrate on your own body as well._ Lycur spoke slowly, almost as if he were hypnotizing someone. Zack thought he really was when he started to feel woozy as he did as he was told. He did concentrate, really hard, but the more he did, the dizzier he became.

_Think of change. Think of earth and forests, the territory of my kind. Think… think…_ Lycur's gruff voice started to fade as Zack tumbled off the couch, face first onto the ground, dizziness taking over his mind and hazing his sight and his thoughts.

Blackness started to eat away and the edges of Zack's view and he tried to shake it off.

_Come on, Zack, don't give up now! _The Lieutenant thought to himself, not really caring if Lycur heard or not.

The ravenette squeezed his eyes shut as a sudden pain spread through his body. He clenched his teeth, refraining from yelping. He was slightly thankful when the pain died away and he was over taken by numbness.

A whisper in the back of his head aroused him as he lay, numb and unmoving, on the ground. It sounded worried, in some sense of the word.

_Zack…_ it whispered, and the ravenette's eyelids relaxed a bit from how tightly they were squeezed shut.

_Lycur,_ Zack whispered back, _that was NOT fun…_

There was a throaty laugh as his other self picked up on the joke. _No worries! You'll get used to it eventually! _Lycur chuckled. The numbness was starting to fade and Zack tried to get up, eyes still shut from the faint tingle of ache in his limbs.

_You might wanna open your eyes, buddy,_ the demon mumbled and Zack arched an eyebrow. He opened his eyes, like suggested, and shrieked at the sight of his hands. Well, they weren't hands anymore.

_Congratulations, Zack, you're officially a demon wolf!_ Lycur cheered in a human voice.

**~Authors Notes~**

OK! HOPE YOU LIKED IT! I'm pretty sure this is now my longest chapter! YAY! I wonder what might happen in the next chapter now that Zack's a wolf demon…

Well, I have a new pole up. Please answer the new one because I really need to know its answer. And please review! I'll be your best friend! :D

**~POLL~**

Qliphoth meet Sephiroth soon?

-Yes (how soon?) (how should Sephy react?)_ -1 vote-_

-No

2. Who should Zack end up dating?

-Aeris

-Qliphoth


	10. Chapter 9: Meetings

Chapter Nine:

Cloud sat silently on the clay ground as Qliphoth and Reno continued to train with their guns. They had switched at some point to more realistic guns, not like training guns, and were having a blast with training. No pun intended.

It was almost calming, watching people train. It wasn't the fact that they were friends of his, but just watching anybody train always made him calm. He loved to help the trainees train when he had enough free time. It was kind of like a hobby. Though, of course, he was allowed to receive a personal apprentice, like most warriors, but he didn't. No, he wanted to train as many demons as possible. Not just one.

But, there was another reason.

Just a few months before he actually became the king, he was assigned an apprentice of his own. He had been so overjoyed. Her name was Venus, a chimera.

_~Flashback~_

_Magnorak watched approvingly as his apprentice zoomed through the 18 flaming hoops in one leap. She landed with such grace, such ability, that Magnorak just knew she would grow to be something great._

"_How was that, teacher?" Venus turned her head to face the nine-tailed fox. Magnorak just smiled warmly and nodded his approval. Venus then proceeded to cheer and jump into the air, her tiny, bat-like wings fluttering every now and again causing her to hover slightly._

"_Yes, yes, that's great and all, but our mission for the day has yet to be done," Magnorak calmed the jittery girl, who immediately fell silent and stood at attention. Her face was serious, yet held a small bit of child joy. She was very young. And very small. And yet she was so independent and strong! It made Magnorak proud to be her teacher._

"_You're doing so great!" the kitsune congratulated the chimera, who smiled slightly._

"_Thank you SO much teacher! I'm really happy to be taught by you!" Venus smiled fully after she spoke. She just always had a way to brighten the room._

"_Now, Venus, you have been chosen to go on a mission today," Magnorak explained as his apprentice's face brightened considerably. "You're going on a patrol near Southern Region and Westren Region's border, but not too close."_

_Venus saluted with a bounce. "Of course! When do I leave?" she asked._

"_Now! You need to learn to leave at a moments notice! So, hurry to the hanger to meet the rest of the patrol." Venus simply nodded and zoomed over to the gym's door, but stopped suddenly and turned back to her mentor._

"_Love ya!" she said cheerfully, like she always did before a mission. It just always made Magnorak so happy that someone respected him so much._

_But, unfortunately, Venus rushed out before her teacher could wish her good luck, like he always did. Magnorak shrugged that off, thinking that Venus didn't need any luck from him! She made her own luck! But, it had just become a tradition, he guessed, so it felt weird to not continue it._

-that evening_-_

_Magnorak sat in his room, skimming through his book, when a knock was heard at his door. He opened the door with a wave of his hand and a warrior, clad in full body uniform, entered._

"_Yes?" Magnorak questioned calmly._

"_Could you come with me, please? From my understanding you should be able to identify something," the warrior stated monotonously. The kitsune had a weird feeling that he was some robot, but he pushed away the silly thought._

_He nodded and followed the warrior out. He was led in the direction of hanger 5. Magnorak's guess was that they had discovered something. Maybe it had something to do with fox demons, so he was needed to help them out. Unfortunately, there weren't many fox demons in Western region. They mainly resided in Southern Region and Eastern Region._

_They entered the hanger and Magnorak was hit with an uncomforting smell. He recognized that smell!_

"_This way, please," the warrior said and brought the kitsune over to a large, black, zipped up bag. "Tell us if you recognize anything, please," the warrior told Magnorak as the bag was opened._

_The future king's eyes lowered at the sight and darkened in dread._

"_Any recognition?" the warrior questioned. Magnorak nodded numbly. "Could you place a name?" Again, Magnorak nodded._

"_Yes, I can," the kitsune started. "This is Southern Region work?" The warrior nodded, waiting for a title for their find._

"_Yes… yes…"_

"_Yes, this is my… former… apprentice, Venus Mimith."_

_~End Flashback~_

He had blamed it on himself. The death of his apprentice was because of him. Now, he no longer thought such a thing, that wishing her luck would have done any different, but he still grieved. He never wanted a personal apprentice again.

A deep sigh left the blonde's lips and he stood from the ground, dusting himself off. He waved a bit to get his silver-haired friend's attention.

"What up, Taco?" she called, keeping most of her focus on her targets.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back later to pick you up!" Cloud answered calmly.

"You sound like a mom dropping her kids off somewhere!" Qliphoth retorted cheerfully, but waved back at him, and turned fully back to her training with their new, Turk friend. Cloud smiled, glad Qliphoth was getting along well with so many new people. She really was a social butterfly.

Cloud exited the room quietly and started to walk around the halls. He didn't know where it was he was walking, he was just enjoying himself. Of course, he would of preferred to go outside, but he didn't want to get too far away from his hyperactive friend.

It was pretty calming. No one to bother him. No random comments. Nothing.

Until, as he turned a corner, he ran into a large wolf.

_~With Zack~_

"OH! MY! GOD!!" Zack yelled out loud, looking into a mirror in the bathroom. It was on the back of his bathroom door and touched the floor, so, of course, he had no difficulty getting to it.

What looked back at him was a huge wolf, its shoulders probably reaching up to the middle of his human thigh. Its muscles rippled under the dark green fur. Black splotches were scattered over the wolf's pelt and brilliant glowing, violet eyes stood out from the dark fur. A black, studded collar hugged the wolf's neck and a broken chain dangled off of the collar's side. the wolf's tail was long and fluffy, but a metal blade was tied to the tip of it, looking quite menacing.

"Dude! Lycur!" Zack grinned.

_Yeah?_ Lycur asked, sounding nonchalant.

"I'm a sexy beast!" the new wolf demon said and started to giggle. "LITERALLY!" Zack started to laugh like a total idiot. Lycur rolled his eyes.

_You're insane. You know that, right?_ the new human sighed, shaking his head at his other self's insanity. Zack just giggled in joy as he ran out his bathroom and over to his door. He sat down in front of the door and looked up at it, totally lost on how the heck he was supposed to open it. He cocked his head to the side, then the other, thinking.

_Don't hurt yourself!_ Lycur laughed.

_Bite my sexy ass!_ Zack grinned and turned his attention back to the task at hand. The wolf arched a furry eyebrow and hummed in thought. What was he supposed to do?

An idea dawned on the Lieutenant and he pictured a lit bulb popping up over his head. He was an earth element demon, right? Which meant he controlled earth. Ok, that was cool, but it wouldn't help all that much in this situation. But, hadn't Lycur said he also had a bit of metal element?

Zack grinned. Oh, yes! This could work!

Zack scrunched his eyebrows together in concentration and his eyes narrowed slightly. He felt something moving around in him. Something warm and welcoming. Something that seemed to fit into his every being. It wasn't any liquid or anything. Zack recognized this sensation slightly for when he used high powered materia. All it really was was some kind of energy floating around inside the wolf's body. He never really noticed it before then, but now that Zack thought about, he had sensed energy flowing through his body. Very faintly, and maybe only once or twice, but it had been there.

_It's because you're a demon,_ Lycur spoke up, sounding slightly bored.

Zack arched a mental eyebrow and Lycur smiled at his physical self's curiosity.

_Well, demon's are a lot more sensitive towards energy and forces then humans. This is mainly because we need to be able to identify the element of an ability and also because we ourselves are creating a power instead of you humans. Humans use those things called materia. Materia already have a ready ability waiting inside it for you, so you humans don't need to identify it._

_But, what about those healer people that can heal with their hands and without materia? _Zack asked mentally as he tried to somehow identify the energy inside him. He had no idea what he was doing, and he didn't know how other energies felt so he didn't know how he was supposed to specify this one.

_Well, they feel energy more often then other humans, obviously, but healing magic isn't always an element, and elemented energy is a lot easier to detect. But, I didn't say all humans never sense energy. I said it was less common, and demons are BUILT to sense energy. It just takes training to be able to sense energy in a way that it's more like it's a map and that you're seeing it then just feeling a general feeling of what it is or where it is. I do believe that you humans used to have a race called the Ancients. They could feel energy much like a demon, actually._ At the end of Lycur's explanation, Zack was a bit dizzy. But, the Lieutenant would be the first to admit that it had been very interesting... if you could keep up with it all.

Zack fell silent as he concentrated on the energy inside of him. He still had absolutely no idea how to identify them, but he did notice something. He didn't know how to explain it, but it felt like there were two different energies floating around. He couldn't see it, but it was almost like he sensed that one part of the energy was rough and gritty, and the other was smooth and sleek. And he almost felt like he could actually SENSE what colors they were. The rough one was a mix of browns, greys, oranges, and tans. The smooth one was a mix of copper, bronze, silver, brass, and gold. And they seemed to swirl together, like kin; like they were supposed to be together. But, the brown, rough one seemed so much greater then the other, but it didn't try to take over the sleek energy. It was almost like it was trying to support the smooth one.

Zack wondered how he could figure all this out without even seeing it, but he labeled it under the same category as to how he knew what Lycur was doing without being able to see him.

_You just identified the two elements in you. Well, your main ones,_ Lycur said cheerfully after a moment, finally pulling Zack out of his confused thoughts. The wolf blinked both physically and mentally.

_Wait! Didn't you say that the two elements I mainly use are earth and metal? _Zack asked the former demon. The demon only nodded in answer. Zack thought about it for a second.

That did make sense. The gritty and rough energy was the earth element, while the smooth and sleek one was the metal. The colors of the elements - Zack was still freaked that he actually could figure out what colors they were - seemed to fit the elements as well. And their actions made sense. The earth energy had been supporting the metal energy, like a parent, or a creator, and didn't the earth create metals in reality? And the fact that he was mainly earth aligned and that metal was just an attribute made sense, because the earth energy had been so much bigger then the metal.

_Well! What do ya know! He can be taught! _Lycur cheered, laughing.

_Shut up..._

_HALLELUIA!! THANK YOU JESUS!!! YOU'VE GIVEN THIS POOR SOUL A BRAIN!!!_ Lycur ignored Zack.

_I said shut up!_ Zack growled.

_And I ignored you, so there!_ Lycur stuck out his tongue.

_You're annoying._

_Look who's talking!_

_At least I don't have fleas!!!_

_OOP! NOW YA DO!!!_

_SON OF A BITCH!!!_

Lycur's laughter echoed through the Lieutenant's brain. He swore that all of this was going to drive him insane.

The wolf shook his head, ignoring the voice as best he could, and turned back to the situation at hand. Opening his door. His idea on how to do it still seemed possible, more so now seeing as he understood something about energies and what not.

Zack started to concentrate once again, and focused mainly on the metal energy flowing through him. He tested out trying to control where it went and how it flowed. It was surprisingly easy. And so, Zack pushed the energy into the metal spikes in his collar and pictured the energy flowing out like tentacles or vines.

Zack opened his eyes to find the spikes on his collar were stretched out like tentacles and waving back and forth. The wolf grinned at his accomplishment and light seemed to radiate off him. He made the tentacles reach up and grab the doorknob. It turned and the door creaked open.

Zack grinned wide, and then willed the metal tentacles to turn back into spikes.

The wolf peeked his head out the door, looking both ways, up and down the hallway, making sure there was no one nearby. There wasn't, so the cheerful Lieutenant trotted out, much like a horse, and walked off. He didn't mind being seen. He just didn't want anyone to think that a giant wolf had come out of HIS ROOM and walked around freely.

_Where are you planning on going, exactly?_ Lycur asked after a few minutes of random walking. Zack didn't even falter in his confident stride. He came up to an elevator and hit the down button with his nose.

_Not a clue!_ Zack answered cheerfully as he walked into the elevator and sat on his haunches.

_How settling!_ Lycur said dryly.

_Well, I'm glad you're comfortable!_ Zack snickered.

_THAT WAS SARCASM, YOU DOLT!!!_ Lycur yelled in agitation.

_OW! DUDE! You're giving me a headache!_

_Right back at cha',_ _DUDE!_ Lycur grumbled under his breath and Zack guessed if he was still a wolf he'd be growling menacingly.

Zack looked up at the choice of many floor buttons on the elevator wall. No one else was present in the claustrophobic contraption. He cocked his head to the side in thought, then shrugged, closed his eyes, then pressed his nose against a random button. He felt the elevator come alive with movement as it started to move. He looked at his floor choice.

Floor 21.

Wasn't that the Turk's training floor?

Zack didn't think long on that subject, believing that he could come up with some sort of prank or something and scare the wits out of those Turks. It wasn't like he didn't like Turks! No! He actually knew a few Turks and was good friends with them! But, those guys were just too much fun to mess with!

The elevator finally "dinged" and the doors opened. Zack slunk out of the machine and stalked through the shadows.

Silently, under his breath, Zack whispered one of his favorite songs. "Go ninja! Go ninja! Go! Go ninja! Go ninja! Go!"

_Making theme music for yourself, are we?_ Lycur question, rolling his eyes.

_Pretty much, yeah!_ Zack grinned as he continued.

He was about to turn a corner when a certain, familiar blonde nearly tripped over him.

_~Cloud~_

Cloud stared down at the giant wolf staring straight back at him with piercing- and startled- violet eyes. He could tell instantly that this wolf was a demon. What he was doing there, Cloud had absolutely no idea. And something about those eyes seemed suspiciously familiar.

Cloud sniffed the air without taking his eyes off the wolf demon before him. Wait a minute.

There was no scent. Well, there was the scent of the wolf itself, but it held no scent of a demon region. It wasn't from the North, South, West, or East Regions. It didn't smell like the Grand Council, either. This wolf held the scent of mako and ShinRa. And Cloud also thought he smelled a faint, a very faint, trace of farmland.

"Daney chu calocky…" Cloud whispered the sentence under his breath. It was in the language of demons from very, very long ago. It was the equivalent of "What the Hell."

The wolf blinked, and took Cloud completely by surprise when it streaked in the opposite direction at high speeds. "HEY!" the blonde yelled in protest, making chase.

His legs carried him at speeds that weren't natural to his teen, human body. But, it just wasn't enough as Cloud could just see the wolf demon's tail as it turned a corner, and a lot of the time he had to follow a scent trail that was just forming.

This wolf was definitely speed trained. Its speed was incredibly high and seemed to slowly be getting faster as the chase continued. Cloud gritted his teeth in frustration as he realized he was losing the mysterious demon. That's when he felt his body shift, ever so slightly. His canines grew from human teeth to large fangs. His fingernails turned into long, black claws. And his pupils slitted into thin lines. This was the extent of his small shift, but it made his demon energy boost much higher.

He lowered his face down a bit more, becoming more aerodynamic. His arms shot backwards, helping with the cause. He was so low to the ground as he ran now that he looked like he was running on all fours.

His speed increased and soon enough he could see the wolf clear as day. Each turn, Cloud saw the whole wolf turn, not just its tail. The demon spared a glance back at his blonde pursuer, squeaked slightly, the sped a bit up.

"I KNOW HE'S CATCHING UP!!! DON'T RUB IT IN!!" the wolf suddenly yelled, taking the fox king by surprise. Who was he talking to?

An idea struck him.

Did that demon have an earpiece? Cloud hadn't really looked for one. What if he was working for Hojo? Or even worse, Expire?

Cloud didn't see the turn coming up, so when the wolf turned to the left suddenly, the king wasn't ready. He rammed into the wall, full force, leaving cracks and chipped areas. It hurt like hell too. Though not much hurt him anymore, you try going 100 mph and hitting a cement wall headfirst and say you didn't feel a thing!

The fox king fell to the ground below him in a daze. His body shifted back to that of a teen human again. The blonde growled, clutching his head as he slowly sat back up.

"SORRY!" he heard the demon wolf call down the hall as it disappeared behind yet another corner.

Cloud looked after it and sighed. There was no point in trying to follow the wolf now. Though Cloud could follow its scent trail, the blonde guessed that that demon had already started to cover it up somehow.

Whoever this wolf was, he was obviously a levelheaded genius.

_~Zack~_

"OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!" Zack said over and over frantically as he ran in circles in his room.

_Zack…_ the voice in his head tried to calm him.

"OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!" the Lieutenant ignored his other self. He was freaking out, if you hadn't noticed.

_Zack…_ Lycur tried it again, but to no avail.

"OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!"

_WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!_ Lycur screamed in fury, silencing the frantic man. As soon as Zack had run back into his apartment he had shifted straight back into his human form. Meaning Lycur was once again a wolf.

The ravenette was still hyperventilating.

_Just calm down,_ Lycur said quietly, his voice on the edge of frustration.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!? DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!! Did you not SEE how fast Spiky was going? He nearly caught me!! How can I be calm when I feel like I just went through the movie The Fast and the Furious: Animal Edition?!! Huh!! ANSWER ME THAT!!!" Zack finished his mantra by plopping down in his orange sofa, with a pout and crossed arms.

_Are you done?_

_Yes… yes I am…_

_Good! Now, I don't know what the hell was up with your blonde friend and that speed, and I honestly don't even want to find out! But this is why you should be more careful! You were nearly caught!_ Lycur lectured the violet-eyed man, sounding much like a mother.

_You don't think I noticed that?_ Zack grumbled inside his head. There was silence for a minute when Zack suddenly stood from his seat.

_Where are you going now?_ Lycur questioned, slightly irritated, but also genuinely curious.

_I'm curious as to why Cloud was up on the Turk's floor in the first place, so I'm gonna go back up and walk around. Play detective,_ Zack answered as he slipped out the door and headed back up towards floor 21.

_~Qliphoth~_

The silverette hummed cheerfully as she literally skipped down the halls of floor 21 in search of her blonde friend. She readjusted her hat quickly and moved her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose.

She had just finished her training with Reno, and being the impatient coffee pot that she was had gone searching for Cloud as soon as she realized he wasn't there. She was pretty sure he wasn't that far away, but it wasn't like she was gonna wait for him!

She was humming "Ring Around the Rosy", silently enjoying the history of the song. When she first found out that that song was about the Bubonic Plague, she just fell in love with it. She was weird like that. Of course, she was weird in a lot of ways, but let's not get into that!

She had been looking for Cloud for a good ten minutes by then, and yet she still wasn't worried.

"What are you doing up here?" the deep voice startled the crap out of the cook in disguise and she jumped. She swung around in search of the owner of that voice and came face to face with a tall, muscular silverette. His hair was the exact same shade as hers, gleaming like a polished blade. He wore black leather, giving him a bad boy kind of air. His face was stern and stony, seeming to say that all he cared about was business. And his eyes gleamed with a mako green glow, pupils slits. They mirrored Qliphoth's exactly.

The silverettes blinked at each other, Qliphoth silently making sure he couldn't see her hair or her eyes.

He couldn't, so she finally grinned her ever so common Cheshire grin and waved cheerfully to the man.

"HELLO MISTER SEPHIROTH!! NICE TO MEET CHA!!"

**~Authors Notes~**

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

I'm sorry it took so long! I really am! But, I plan to try and submit these chapters a lot more often now that I've gotten into the swing of high school now.

So, Qliphoth finally meets Sephy! YAY! Happy Day!

I'm excited about the next chapter. I have a good chunk planned out! Qliphoth meets Sephy here, right? Well, Zack comes running up and they both convince Sephiroth to come with them down to get a drink that night and they give him a headache! Yay!

And Cloud has NO IDEA!! Kukuku!

**~POLL~**

Should Sephiroth have a demon for himself? )Note: the demon would be a cat demon)

-Yes (what should the voices pesonallity be?)

-No

**~PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!~**


	11. Chapter 10: Hyperactives

Chapter Ten:

Qliphoth continued to grin like a total idiot as Sephiroth arched a delicate eyebrow at the odd girl. The male silverette quickly recovered from the female silverette's random outburst.

"Aren't you the cook? What are you doing up here?" the general asked the hyperactive girl.

"Aren't you the general? What are YOU doing up here?" Qliphoth grinned mischievously as a small vein formed on Sephiroth's forehead. It quickly vanished and the masamune wielder sighed.

"Answer my question," he ordered, obviously getting impatient. Qliphoth just stood there and grinned, saying nothing. There was a pause as Sephiroth blinked slowly at the odd girl. "Are you gonna say anything?" the male silverette questioned. Qliphoth vigorously shook her head no.

If it could happen, a comical sweatdrop would probably be going down Sephiroth's head right now.

"Qliph? Sephy? What are you two doing here?" the voice startled the two cat-eyed people as a certain Lieutenant that we all know and love came jogging up, waving cheerfully.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, Zackary?" Sephiroth arched an eyebrow again at the ravenette who skidded to a stop before them.

"HI PATRICK SWAYZE!!!" Qliphoth yelled cheerfully, throwing her arms into the air in joy at the sight of the violet-eyed man. Both men present looked at the temporary cook oddly.

"Huh?" Zack questioned slowly. There was a pause and then Zack sighed. "Is that my random nickname?" the Lieutenant asked slowly. Qliphoth grinned and nodded her head strongly. "And it has a really long story of where it came from?" Qliphoth nodded her head again. "And are you going to tell me it?" Qliphoth shook her head this time.

Through the whole exchange Sephiroth simply stood there, arms crossed, watching blankly. That's when the two obvious friends turned towards him.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaay! Maybe I will tell you why I'm up here after all!" Qliphoth said cheerfully and with a small shrug. "Let me start from the beginning!" the green-eyed girl's smile took on an evil glint.

"Qliph," Zack said slowly.

"Yes, Patrick?" Qliphoth replied.

"Don't start from the beginning of your life, please."

Qliphoth cursed under her breath.

"Well, see, my name is Qliphoth, Mister Sephiroth, sir! I'm up here because I'm looking for Taco!"

"You're looking for a taco? Then go to some Mexican restaurant. Don't go wandering around the ShinRa building," Sephiroth answered the hyper girl, only earning an excited giggle from the silverette and a cough from Zack, obviously trying to cover up laughter.

"Um, Taco is her nickname for a friend of ours. He's a cadet named Cloud Strife," Zack informed his superior slowly. Sephiroth arched an eyebrow at his Lieutenant, then at the cook. He shook his head as if deciding he really didn't want to know.

"Why are you up here?" Qliphoth questioned cheerfully, as expected.

Sephiroth gave her a look as if thinking if he should really answer, and she seemed honestly curious. "Tseng needed to talk to me," that was all the general said, not feeling like explaining any further.

There was a pause as Qliphoth's smile vanished for a second and was replaced with a thoughtful face. Instantly her grin was back. "Why don't you join me, Patrick, and Taco for a drink tonight?" she asked excitedly, jumping up and down slightly with hope. Zack's eyes lit up with joy at the idea and started to hop up and down as well.

"YEAH! That's a great idea!" Zack responded cheerfully, grinning at the male silverette. Sephiroth sighed and shook his head.

"To busy," was all he said as he started to walk away, only to be stopped as both Zack and Qliphoth zoomed in front of him, hands clasped in a resemblance of prayer, and big, puppy dog eyes gleamed up at him.

"!!!!!" they both drew out together, sounding identical.

Sephiroth blinked slowly at the two, face stoic and blank. He sighed and shook his head once again.

"Like I said. I'm too busy," he replied and pushed past them, trying to get away. He thought he was in the clear when he nearly fell forward when he felt something wrap around his right ankle. He looked down and saw Qliphoth, hat and glasses still hiding her features, clinging to his leg.

"Let. Go," the general ground out menacingly, only to be earned by the coffee pot of a girl sticking her tongue up at him.

"I SHALL NEVER BE SILENCED!!!" she exclaimed, determined. She really did appear like she wasn't going to let go. Sephiroth felt his right eye twitch slightly, but he quickly calmed himself by counting to ten in his head very slowly. He took a deep breath and looked down at the hyperactive girl blankly.

"Let go or I'll kick you off," he growled angrily to Qliphoth, once again only being earned by her sticking out her tongue. Sephiroth sighed.

_Persistent little brat,_ he thought to himself.

"I'll let go if you agree to go with us and get a drink!" Qliphoth announced confidently, silently praying the idea would work. A deep sigh followed the announcement and the female silverette knew she had done it!

"Fine," Sephiroth said, obviously irritated, and just like that, Qliphoth was up and standing next to Zack, grinning from ear to ear.

"COOL! ZACK'LL GET YOU THE ADDRESS AND TIME OF WHEN YOU SHOW UP! M-KAY?!" she proclaimed quite loudly.

"I will?" Zack asked her slowly, cocking his head to one side.

"YES! YES YOU WILL!" Qliphoth answered cheerfully.

"OTAY!!" Zack grinned as well, and the hyperactive duo turned towards their general.

"BYE-BYE!" they both exclaimed happily before running off together, giggling like school girls, in search of who-knows-what!

Sephiroth blinked at the now empty space in front of him. Silently, under his breath her mumbled, "Dear Gaia, there's another one…" What else could he say?

The silverette shook his head out of the daze and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers to try and slow the oncoming migraine. "What the hell just happened?" he grumbled before turning and walking away.

_~Cloud~_

He was confused.

He was angry.

He was dizzy.

He was tired.

He was our favorite blonde demon king!

CLOUD!

The blonde fox demon angrily marched through the halls of Floor 21. He was utterly pissed. He hadn't paid any attention to where he was going as he chased after that mystery wolf, and now he was completely lost. The chase had zigzagged everywhere, and now the scent trail overlapped each other and was very, very long.

Cloud sighed deeply as he continued his irritating journey. This was such a pain. He had memorized the layout of the building and each floor, but that didn't really help him much when he had absolutely no idea where he was to begin with!

This was so irritating.

And it just got worse…

The blonde cadet suddenly heard running footsteps behind him, and before he could turn and see what was coming, he was sent flying face first into the ground by two, certain, hyperactive friends of his. An insane giggle came from the silver-haired girl and an excited laugh came from the Lieutenant.

"ZACK!! QLIPHOTH!! GET THE HELL OFF ME!!!" Cloud yelled at the two on his back. Qliphoth continued to giggle like the insane person she was while Zack's laughter only grew in volume.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, YOU TWO!! I THINK YOU BROKE MY BACK!!" the demon king complained angrily. This time, Zack's laughter grew so much that he fell off, and Cloud was able to shove Qliphoth off by himself. The two people that had caffeine for blood were laughing so hard they were rolling on the floor.

The fox demon felt a vein pop on his head as he stood up and dusted himself off. He looked in the direction they had come and guessed that was his best bet out of this maze of a floor.

The blonde carefully stepped around the laughing duo and started to walk away.

"WHERE YA GOIN', TACO?!" Qliphoth's voice echoed towards him and Cloud turned to look at her blankly.

"I'm going back to my room!" he replied, voice neutral. The silverette and the ravenette looked at each other and shrugged simultaneously.

"WE'LL COME WITH YOU!!" they both said at the same time, grinning as usual. Cloud's right eyelid twitched ever so slightly as he stared at the duo. He wondered if it possible they were separated at birth or something! They looked nothing alike, but they acting almost identical.

"Whatever! Do what you want! I have a headache," the blonde grumbled as he started to walk away. He could hear his two friends behind him as they followed gleefully behind.

"Why do you have a headache, Taco?" Qliphoth questioned, not sounding at all curious. Cloud pictured himself running into the wall, chasing after the demon wolf.

"Probably ran into a wall!" Zack laughed and Cloud nearly tripped over himself. The demon king quickly regained his composure and continued on, the silverette and ravenette close behind. That was exactly what he had done!

"NAH! Taco's too smart to run into a wall!" the cat-eyed girl giggled, leaning her elbow on Zack's shoulder. Well, at least tried to. It stayed there for a second before slipping off from Zack's height.

"Yeah, Zack. I think you're mixing me up with Qliphoth," Cloud said back to them.

"HEY!" Qliphoth said indignantly, earning a laugh from her new hyper buddy and a chuckle from the fox demon.

"BUUUURN!!" Zack laughed, pointing at Qliphoth. The silverette growled ever so slightly, before nipping Zack's outstretched finger. "OW!! SHE BIT ME!!"

"You better go check and see if she has rabies," Cloud responded. The three of them laughed as Zack shook his finger out, and all tension left the blonde. He'd wonder about Zack later. For now, he just liked joking with friends.

~One hour later~

Cloud rummaged through one of his bags in his closet in search of a camera. He just couldn't let this opportunity pass! And, his fox instincts were kicking in, so that was also a good reason. But, if only you could see it!

Zack and Qliphoth had indeed followed him to his room and joked around with him there. But, apparently Zack was very exhausted from a "running drill" he had gone through in his special training that day, and Qliphoth hadn't gotten much sleep the past couple nights, so she was exhausted as well.

So, what do you think happened when the two took a seat on the blonde's bed, eyes starting to droop? Well, first, Zack had leaned back against the wall for a bit of support, and Qliphoth had followed sweat, thinking it was a good idea. They sat next to each other, and slowly, their eyes started to droop more and more, until Zack conked leaning against the wall. Qliphoth was the next to go, falling onto the Lieutenant's shoulder and falling asleep.

So, here the Lieutenant and the cook sat, the cook leaning against the Lieutenant, both completely out of it, and looking oh so adorable.

Cloud let out an evil little laugh as he finally found his camera. He turned back to his two friends and readied the camera. Quickly, he snapped a picture, and a bright flash went off.

"AHG!!!" the hyper duo both shrieked at the same time, both startled out of sleep by the flash, and they both fell off the bed and into a tangled bundle on the ground. Quickly after, our mischievous, blonde fox was rolling on the floor, laughing so hard tears were escaping his eyes.

"CLOUD!! WHAT THE HELL??" Qliphoth exclaimed, rubbing her head and looking totally confused and surprised. Cloud pointed at her face and continued to wheeze in laughter.

Zack and Qliphoth blinked slowly at him, before glancing down at what was in their blonde friend's hand. Their eyes widened as they saw the picture, and their faces took on a delightful shade of red that reminded Cloud of a tomato.

"CLOUD!!!" the duo shrieked indignantly, Cloud's laughter slowly coming into control.

"YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FACES!!!" the blonde wheezed through his laughter, then quickly zipped out of the way as Zack and Qliphoth leaped at him. Quickly, he made his way out of his room and as fast as he could away. He took a glance back and saw the blushing duo on his heels.

"YOU TWO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL COUPLE!!" he called back to them.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY, MAN!!" Zack yelled as the fox king stuck his tongue out at the two.

And so, the chase continued. Zack nearly caught Cloud three times; Qliphoth once, but after a few minutes of the chase, Cloud was somehow able to lose the two. He hid in a broom closet, up on one of the shelves, as he heard the duo storm past in pursuit. The blonde grinned a foxy grin to himself in triumph as he hopped to the ground and carefully peaked out. He was alone in the quiet hallway. This time he had paid more attention to where he was going and so he knew the exact way to go to get back to his room.

The blonde chuckled as he stuffed the picture into his pocket for safekeeping. He was planning on putting it in his photo album. He wasn't cruel enough to spread it around the building. That would just be mean, and reminded him too much of something that idiot Brian would do.

Cloud dusted himself off as he began to walk down the hall, heading back to his room. The blonde's ears twitched ever so slightly. He didn't hear a thing. This place seemed much too silent.

The blonde suddenly felt a prick of uneasiness. He heard breathing somewhere. His adrenaline suddenly went up and Cloud found himself slowly speeding up into a speed walk. Then a small jog. And finally, he was sprinting through the halls.

He turned a corner and suddenly found himself on his butt.

"Ow, that smarts," Cloud grumbled angrily, slowly standing back up.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the voice startled the demon king's eyes wide open and sent a trail of ice down his back. Who looked back at the small, blonde cadet was a tall, dark haired man with incredibly pail skin and gleaming glasses. His features were long and gangly, a crooked smirk present on his crooked face.

Hojo.

The demon king wasn't ready for this. He needed to get deeper into Shinra itself before he went to Hojo and investigated what he could have been doing. This just took Cloud completely off guard.

"U-uhm… I'm sorry sir!" the blonde bowed his head slightly, letting his hair shield his horrified eyes. There was a demented chuckle from the tall man and Cloud felt a bolt of anger pass through him. Why was he worried? Why was he scared? This bastard should die! But he didn't have enough proof to do that.

It all pissed him off.

"My, my, such a polite little boy!" Hojo stated, almost TOO sweetly. Again, Cloud felt his blood boil.

_LITTLE?_ Cloud thought indignantly to himself. _LITTLE??_ He repeated. _BOY, I'M THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD AND IN MEGA DEMON I'M BIGGER THEN MOST BUILDINGS!! IF YOU KNEW THAT, YOU'D BE MORE CAREFUL!!_

Within his mind, the blonde continued his enraged mantra before he felt a pat on his head as if he were some dog.

"Good boy," Hojo chuckled evilly before he seemed to vanish down the corridor.

Cloud stared down where Hojo had vanished and shuddered. That guy was a total creep! And, all of a sudden, the blonde's urge to kill him heightened to a new level.

Quickly, before he went after the insane scientist and killed him there and then, Cloud turned away and hurried back to his room. He didn't even notice the trip from that silent hall to his room, he was so numb with fury. He burst open his door, shut it behind him, and stormed into the small room they called a bathroom.

He stared at himself in the mirror. He was pale from the encounter and angry wrinkles tightened his face. Slowly, Cloud counted to ten, taking in deep breathes, and soon his face took on its normal calm and neutral look.

The blonde racked a hand through his sweaty hair. He checked his watch and thought it a good idea to get a shower before he left for the bar. The three of them- him, Zack, and Qliphoth- were just going to go whenever. It wasn't planned that they would travel together.

And so, Cloud shifted into his adult, human form and turned on the shower. Again, before stepping into the water, he checked himself in the mirror. And he sighed. Ringed creases were under his eyes showing the world the nights where he was awake most of the hours doing paper work and such. A small bit of grey was forming at his roots, barely noticeable unless you were looking specifically for them, showed his stress over the years.

Though he was indeed thousands of years old, he was still young on demon standards. A human's average life span was 100 years. A demon's was 50,000. Cloud himself was 10, 567-years-old. In human standards, he was 21.

Cloud slipped into the shower and let out a sigh of relief as the warm water hit his spine. He massaged his shoulders, trying to get out his multiple knots. What a pain.

Again, the blonde sighed, but more in exasperation this time. Hojo was one creepy freak. Cloud had planned to get farther into Shinra, establish a bit more trust, and then finally find a way to confront Hojo. Then he had planned to later on, sneak around a bit, rummage through files and such that had to do with Hojo. Then, eventually sneak around in the scientist's own lab in search of proof if he had yet to gain it.

Now, he had expected and been fully aware that there was a chance he'd have to meet Hojo before his initial plan, but he had been so wrapped up in having fun with his hyper friends, he had nearly completely forgotten about his mission. Just for that time, anyway.

Finally, Cloud finished his shower and stepped out. He dried off and went to get some clothes out of his closet. He grabbed a navy, long sleeved shirt with tears at the shoulders and grey skinny jeans. He went ahead and put on the boots that went with his cadet uniform. His feet, for some reason, had basically stayed the same, or similar size throughout his growth from teenager to adult. It was common in demons that were normally on all fours.

Next, Cloud put a dangling chain onto his belt that curved over his right thigh. A little, metal paw hung from the ark of the chain. He snapped his fingers and his medallion changed into a much smaller, gold circle with the blue jewel from the medallion in the middle. It hung on a thing, gold chain and gleamed brilliantly. It was only an illusion, and a temporary one, too, but it would last for a good 12 hours. This way, it wasn't as attention grabbing.

Cloud ruffled at his hair, trying to make it look a bit younger looking, seeing as he was supposed to be a teen pretending to be an adult, and rummaged through his bag for his spy cover. Well, he supposed you could call it make up, but Kiva had said that that wasn't manly enough and said to start calling it "spy cover".

Finally, the demon king found some cover up and foundation. He really didn't feel like using too many illusion spells if he could simply use something else. Now, he supposed he could take off the medallion anyway, but if he needed to quickly look like a teen again, he needed it.

Cloud went back to his bathroom and began to cover up the deep rings under his eyes. He prayed no one busted in while he did it. It wasn't like he was necessarily embarrassed about it, but he really didn't feel like explaining it or dealing with teasing with his still present headache.

One time, Qliphoth and Zalu had both walked in while he was covering a healing wound on his cheek so he would look weaker for a mission. Cloud had merely glanced at them, nodded a greeting, then continued his work. Zalu had begun to giggle quite girlishly, blushing brilliantly, and trying desperately to control herself and form words. But QLIPHOTH wasn't really trying to hide anything and be polite and had burst out in full out laughter, pointing and jeering and joking at the fox demon. She hadn't let it go for a whole five weeks, and she STILL enjoyed bringing it up every now and again.

Finally, Cloud was ready to go and he headed out the door, slipping the picture of Zack and Qliphoth into his drawer, promising himself he'd put it in his album later. He headed out of the building and towards the bar they had decided to go to.

Zack had said he himself had helped decide what to name the place: Seventh Heaven. It sounded pretty nice, pretty cozy. Cloud was actually looking forward to his night out.

He walked all the way to the bar and examined it. It looked relatively new and very nice. It didn't look busy, but it didn't look abandoned. Cloud smiled in acceptance and walked inside. As soon as he entered, he found a gleeful cook clinging around his neck in joy, nearly knocking him over.

" YOU'RE FINALLY HERE, TACO!!!" Qliphoth exclaimed gleefully, obviously over the whole picture mess. She un-clung herself and examined the blonde. She grinned her Cheshire grin and nodded. "YA LOOK HOT!" Cloud rolled his eyes.

Zack came up behind her, leaning his elbow against the silverette's head, ignoring her quick complaint. "Yeah, Spiky! You look great! I swear, if I didn't know you I'd think you were, like, 21!" the ravenette said, smiling. Qliphoth quietly chuckled to herself, knowing how true that statement really was.

"Have you guys already gotten a drink?" Cloud asked the two as Zack crossed his arms, removing his elbow.

The Lieutenant shook his head, shrugging a bit. "Naw! We just got here ourselves, so we don't have anything," he answered, looking around, and then continued, "Actually, real fast, I gotta pee, so go ahead and get your drinks, and I'll be just out!" With that, Zack walked in the direction of the restrooms, earning an eye role from the blonde king.

Qliphoth turned to Cloud and grinned. She grabbed his wrist and began to drag him to the bar. "COME ON! LET'S GRAB A BEER!!" she cheered, and then whispered so only the fox could hear, "You won't believe who's here." Cloud arched an eyebrow at her as they finally took a seat.

"Uhm, could I get a bottle of Samuel Adams, please?" Cloud asked the waitress, who was turned away. There was a pause, then the waitress turned around, revealing a familiar face from the demon academy.

"Tifa?" Cloud whispered, eyes wide from surprise. The beautiful werewolf leaned forward against the counter, wine eyes gleaming in joy and dark, brown hair falling over her shoulders.

"Hey there, Your Majesty!" Tifa greeted, giving Cloud a warm smile.

"What are you doing here?" the blonde asked, getting over his initial shock and gave Tifa a kind smile in return.

The werewolf in disguise shrugged simply. "My mission lead me to Midgar. Simple as that!"

Tifa was such a nice surprise on this stressful day for Cloud. She was such a beautiful sight, really, but Cloud knew that she was an amazing- and frightening- fighter. She excelled in hand-to-hand combat, like most of her race, and she was very talented in it. Many times, Cloud had come to help the trainees train and had run into Tifa, who also wanted to help. They were definitely friends, and enjoyed sparring with each other.

Tifa's werewolf form even held a touch of her human beauty. In Cloud's experience, most werewolves he met, their demon forms weren't at ALL good looking, but Tifa was a first. Now, the demon king didn't know too many werewolves, seeing as they mainly inhabited Eastern Region, so he couldn't say that most werewolves were ugly.

Suddenly, the hyperactive silverette was shoving Cloud to the side so she was in front of Tifa's view. Her big grin was still there and she giggled slightly. "Sorry to interrupt you love birds, but can I get some vodka??" she exclaimed, enjoying the growl that rumbled from the blonde's throat.

"GET OFF ME, QLIPHOTH!!!" Cloud shrieked, shoving the cat-eyed girl off him. She took her seat once again on her king's left and giggled uncontrollably. It wasn't until then that Cloud noticed what she was wearing.

A black beret- with all over her silver hair stuffed into it- was placed on her head. A bit fancier then usual, black pair of sunglasses was balanced on her nose, hiding her eye color, but the actual shape and movement of the eyes was visible. She wore grey skinny jeans with red swirls at the base. She also had on a black, sleeveless shirt that showed off her belly and two chokers were strapped around her neck in an "x" pattern, reminding Cloud of Sephiroth's crossed belts over his chest.

"I'M BAAAA~AAACK!!" the voice caught all three of them- Tifa, Cloud, and Qliphoth- off guard as Zack slung both his arms over Cloud and Qliphoth's shoulders.

"HEY, PATRICK SWAYZE!!" Qliphoth greeted the Lieutenant. Cloud arched an eyebrow at the odd name and Zack sighed.

"You're still not gonna tell me where you got that name from, huh?" the violet-eyed man questioned, sounding tired.

"YEP!" the green-eyed girl replied cheerfully, grinning in triumph. Again, Zack sighed. Cloud and Tifa exchanged an odd look, Tifa shrugged, and Cloud began to think.

"Uhm," the blonde started, drawing the group's attention to him. "Zack, led to Zackariah. Zakariah led to the bible. The bible led to Luke. Luke led to Luke fon Fabre from Tales of the Abyss (1). Luke fon Fabre led to spoiled brats. Spoiled brats led to "Socs" from the book "The Outsiders"(2). The Outsiders book led to The Outsiders Movie. And Patrick Swayze is in The Outsiders movie… right?"

Everyone was staring at the fox demon, who shrunk down in his seat slightly. That's when Qliphoth exploded, showing rare irritation. "HOW'D YOU KNOW!? DAMMIT!! YOU RUINED THE MYSTERY!!" she yelled, flailing her arms around in irritation. Cloud burst out laughing as Qliphoth fumed. Tifa arched an eyebrow at the blonde.

"How'd you know that, Cloud?" the brunette asked. Cloud shrugged lightly.

"I've known her for a while… I know how her brain works…" the blonde answered slowly. Qliphoth glared over at him then started to chuckle menacingly.

"Scary place, isn't it? My mind?" she giggled evilly, snatching the new glass filled with vodka in front of her and chugging half of it down. Cloud grimaced slightly and nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much…" he mumbled, then noticed his Samuel Adams was there. He hadn't even seen Tifa put them out. He arched an eyebrow at the beautiful werewolf, who just shrugged as if it were nothing.

Ten minute went by, and Cloud and Tifa continued to speak in light conversation. The brunette had to go and serve people every few seconds, but other wise their conversation was uninterrupted. In the background, Zack and Qliphoth were in their own, heated conversation, mainly Zack teasing her about him finally knowing the secret behind his nickname.

After a second, Zack glanced at his watch and grumbled. "Man, where could he be?" he mumbled, earning a confused look from the blonde and a curious look from the brunette.

Qliphoth peaked over the ravenette's shoulder at his watch. She also grumbled. "Dude, I'm gonna be so pissed if he backs out of his promise!" she whined childishly. Zack nodded in agreement, slowly.

"He's not one to back out of a promise, though," he said slowly, crossing his arms.

Cloud looked at the hyperactive duo in total confusion, wondering what the heck was going on. And, as if on cue, the bars door opened up, and the whole place went silent.

"THERE HE IS!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!" Qliphoth exclaimed cheerfully. Cloud froze suddenly, his spine turning to ice as a familiar scent hit his nostrils. He turned slowly around and came to the sight of General Sephiroth himself.

_Oh… shit…_ he thought, eye wide.

_~Somewhere in the ShinRa Building~_

The fake SOLDIER stalked lazily through the halls. She had seen her target, or thought she had, for the boy was much younger then whom she was truly looking for.

She was now looking for someone specifically. She already knew where she was going, it was just taking a while.

The woman's three minion creatures skittered around her feet, mumbling small fragments along the lines of "master is almighty" and "master will kill them" and "master will win." The woman had grown accustomed to it, and grown to love her obvious praises. Wasn't it all true? These creatures were too stupid to actually lie.

Finally, the four stood in front of the door that led to their destination. A code was necessary to enter, and the woman gritted her many rows of metal, razor teeth in annoyance. The skin of her right hand and the gloves and sleeve there tore to shreds as a machine-like staff with flashing lights replaced it. She waved it over the code pad, the small screen saying "ACCESS APPROVED", and the doors slid open.

The woman smirked wickedly as she stepped in finding the one person she was looking for all alone.

"I am Expire, cyborg, death master. These are Extinct, Ex-Ray, and Exceed," the woman motioned to each of her minions. The man was watching her oddly, surprisingly not frightened, more with evil curiosity.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, sir," Expire bowed her head slightly, not really showing any real respect. She straightened up, and her smirk turned into a full out, evil grin.

"I have a proposition for you, Mr. Hojo."

**~Authors Note~**

Thank you all for your patience!! Sorry it took so long! I really like how this one came out, and I like its length. Wonder what will happen next!

Also, I'm trying to put at least one poll up for each chapter, so the reader can feel like they are part of it! Enjoy!

**~Chapter Notes~**

(1)- Tales of the Abyss is a video game for PS2 and is owned by Namco

(2)- The Outsiders is a very good book by S. E. Hinton

**~POLL~**

Who should win the bet between Reno and Cloud? (Chapter 8)

-Reno (what should his dare be?)

-Cloud (what should his dare be?)

**~PLEASE READ & REVIEW!~**


	12. Intermission

Intermission One: A day with the demons

Okay. All he had to do was do a proper bridge roll. That was it. If he could, then he would finally be done with that day's training and he could leave and find his friends. But if he couldn't, he'd have to stay at least one more hour and train with the ruthless teacher that was Melko Vess, a Centaur that really had no right to be training anyone.

Magnorak, or Mag for short, put his right leg forward in a front stance. He readied himself and narrowed his eyes at where he intended to go. He was currently in half demon form so he made sure to remember not to JUST adjust his feet during the role, but also his tails.

Magnorak leaped forward, and balanced himself in a one-handed handstand. He touched his feet together and twirled his nine, golden tails straight up. He stayed like that for three seconds, as was recommended, then turned his hand to the side and rolled forward, on his shoulder. The roll was quite nice, until he needed to ended it, when he realized too late that his tails had become tangled with his feet. He tried to untangle them quickly, but it was to late and instead of landing on one knee, he continued forward and fell on his face.

Magnorak grumbled angrily to himself blowing a strand of blonde hair from his face and yanking his tails and feet apart behind him. He glanced over at Melko who was shaking his head in disappointment.

"You'll have to train another hour with me, kid," the centaur said and the young fox demon slammed his face against to floor beneath him in irritation.

Now, why did he see that one coming?

_~An Hour And A Half Later~_

Magnorak was not a happy kitsune. His shoulders ached like hell and his head was throbbing, too. And he had to add on that his arms felt like noodles. He'd stayed a whole hour and a half extra at that day's class. He'd gotten a bit better at the right side bridge roll, but as soon as he had begun to get a hang of it, he was told to begin working on the left side.

It didn't go too well, to say the least.

The fox demon stretched his stiff arms, popping shoulders and elbows. He was still in half demon form with his six wings tucked into his back as he walked to his home. He hadn't always lived in Strife, the capital of Western Region. But, he'd moved here with his mother when he realized he wanted to join the army. His two childhood friends, Zalutria and Kiva, stayed in the student barracks, but would constantly show up at his home.

At the moment, the three of them were mere students in the army program. They trained in large classes with other students, before becoming apprentices and getting their own, personal teachers. As apprentices, they could be assigned low ranking missions, such as patrols and such, and they would have to start living in the barracks from then on.

After their apprenticeship, they would graduate and become a Warrior. There were many different kinds of Warriors, but they would be Beginner Warriors. They could go on the bigger missions, but they had to still go to special classes that reminded Magnorak of a college.

After a good amount of classes as Beginner Warriors, they'd be given a specific rank according with their abilities, such as Stealth Warrior, Battle Warrior, and so on.

Magnorak finally reached his home, walking in and calling a greeting in to his mother. A female kitsune peeked out from the kitchen and smiled at him.

"Hello, hunny. You're home later then expected," Magnorak's mother, Oliva, smiled at her son. She was in her full demon form, her pelt the same rich gold as her son's. Her eyes were chocolate brown and danced with cheer and kindness. She was quite small for a kitsune, really. She was considered petite, actually. It was obvious Magnorak didn't receive his size from his mother.

"Extra training," was all the blonde demon boy said, not wanting to get into it. His mother nodded in understanding before turning back into the kitchen, her three tails flicking into view for a moment before they followed her in.

Magnorak smiled at Oliva, glad she let the subject drop. He brushed off his fox feet quickly before running up the stairs near by. He paused in the hall to glance up at a picture hanging on the wall.

It was the only picture of all his family.

And it was the only picture of his father.

Oliva sat like a pristine queen in the back beside a giant, black and red fox that was Magnorak's father. They were total opposites, his parents. His father was huge and he held nine tails behind him with great dignity. He had six, large wings on his back, while his mother had none. It was obvious that Magnorak had gotten his body type from his father. But what really caught the watcher's attention were his father's eyes. They were an intense, deep blue that stared into someone's soul. The exact same eyes that Magnorak now held.

In front of his two parents, in the photo, three small kits sat, grinning at the camera. One was obviously him, the other two his brother and sister.

Magnorak placed one of his furry, clawed hands against the photo sadly. He could barely remember his father or siblings, and he had no idea where they were any longer. They'd all gone missing at the same time.

Sighing, the blonde student continued to his room to change. A few minutes later, he was rushing back down the stairs in a baggy, black shirt and jeans that fitted him snuggly. He ran to the door, yelling back to his mother, "See you ma! I'm gonna go find Zalutria and Kiva!" His mother yelled her good bye's back and Magnorak rushed out.

He searched for his friends for a small while, going to their usual spots, before finding them on the outskirts of the marketplace, sitting on some stone stairs, and munching on apples. They saw him coming and chucked another apple at him.

Magnorak lifted his hand up, trying to catch it, but it missed and popped him on the head. Stumbling for a moment, he fumbled with his hands and caught the fruit right before it could hit the ground. Zalutria and Kiva were both laughing their heads off as he walked over to them.

"Shut up, you two," Magnorak growled angrily, crossing his arms and glaring at them.

"I swear to God, Mag, your head just seems to attract all forms of pain!" Kiva laughed, standing and patting his friend on the back. Zalutria also stood, pulling out a note pad and reading over it.

"Kiva does have a point, Magnorak," she said, earning a glare from the blonde fox demon. She smiled at him, her blue wings twitching in amusement behind her. "You are always getting hit in the head with something!"

Kiva began to laugh again and Magnorak huffed in irritation. "I don't hit my head THAT often!" he retorted angrily, then paused in thought. "Right?"

"Dude, your head's a magnet for unlucky shit!" Kiva laughed even harder, "Right now, I'm just waitin' for the day you run into a wall chasin' someone or something!" That earned him a punch in the arm from a now very furious kitsune.

"Hey! I'm not THAT clumsy! I know that much!" the blonde growled angrily, snarling and baring his fangs. The red phoenix's laughter quieted to a chuckle at the look his childhood friend was giving him.

"Hm, well, the probabilities of such an occasion happening are pretty small," Zalutria spoke up, now holding a calculator in her grip instead of her note pad. She typed in a few numbers and nodded. "Yes, even if your hand-eye coordination is not the best it could be," -Magnorak growled angrily- "you are still quite observant, and I doubt you would just simply fall into a wall."

Kiva was scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, sis, like I said! He'd probably be chasin' something!" he replied to his twin sister. Zalutria giggled nervously and nodded.

"Yes, yes, I see that to be a bigger probability! Magnorak's target would probably move out of the way at the last second and he would run into the wall ahead!"

Kiva nodded in understanding. "Yeah! But it would probably have to be a pretty fast target in order for there to even BE a chase to begin with! I mean, Mag's a pretty fast dude!"

This time Zalutria nodded. "Hm, definitely! A wolf demon would probably be a good guess for such an occurrence to take place!" the blue phoenix agreed.

Watching the whole exchange between the twins, Magnorak couldn't help but sigh in embarrassment. "When the hell did this become a school report?" he mumbled to himself. He was pretty depressed to realize that these kinds of things had happened multiple times before with the two phoenixes.

"ALRIGHTY THEN!" Kiva suddenly yelled, startling the kitsune out of his musing. "Then by our calculations, in the near future, our dear pal Magnorak will run into a wall chasing a wolf demon!" The redhead was pointing up into the sky and posing dramatically as he announced this for the world to hear, his blue haired sister nodding behind him. Magnorak couldn't help but facepalm before retorting.

"It's not gonna happen, Kiva!" he ground out angrily. Said teen's eyes twinkled and he grinned evilly.

"Bet you twenty bucks it does!" he challenged and Magnorak rolled his eyes. Why the hell not? He'd just be getting twenty bucks anyway!

"Agreed, then!" the blonde replied, reaching out a hand and shaking his friend's. There was a quick flash as Zalutria took a quick photo, then handed it to Magnorak, who always kept the pictures.

"Let that be your contract, then," she said, motioning to the photo. The two teen boys decided they might as well agree to that, too.

_~ MANY years later~_

Cloud sat down on his squeaky bed in his cadet room. He had just finished getting ready to go out to a bar with Zack and Qliphoth.

The blonde stretched his aching joints. He had no idea why he was so stiff, but he decided to blame it on everything that had occurred so far that day. To calm himself, he reached over to the bedside table, grabbing his photo album and flipping it open to a random page.

On the left page it was a picture of when they- Kiva, Zalu, and himself- had first met Zeek, a few weeks after they'd become apprentices. And on the right page was a picture of Kiva and Cloud, Magnorak back then, both in half demon form, shaking hands. They'd just agreed to a bet in that one.

Cloud reach up and rubbed the top of his head, where a small bump had formed, after chasing that wolf through the 21st floor of the Shinra Building, just that day.

Cloud paled, shut the album, and slammed it against his face in embarrassment.

He couldn't believe he actually owed Kiva twenty bucks…

**~Author's Notes~**

Ok! I'm not dead! Yippee! Actually, I wasn't intending on making this, but I'm having trouble with the next chapter, and I didn't think it would be fair for me to right down one of those shitty Author Note chapters that no one really reads or cares about!

So, I made this to help keep the story going a little.

I also like that you get to take a trip into Cloud's demon past and learn a few things about him!

Also, polls are still up, so please vote!

**~POLL~**

Who should win the bet between Reno and Cloud? (Chapter 8)

-Reno (what should his dare be?)

-Cloud (what should his dare be?)


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